


Reading Six of Crows

by Lupepofre



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Book 1: Six of Crows, Characters React, Characters Reading The Books, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 21
Words: 39,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29866278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lupepofre/pseuds/Lupepofre
Summary: I've read to many fics with this trope but never for SOC. So I decided that I'll write it, can't promise it's any good. It's the characters of six of crows reading the book.
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa, Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Comments: 76
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> This will take place a day before the events of the second chapter.

Kaz Brekker, or better known in the barrel as "Dirtyhands", was in his office in the Slat planing and skimming his exchange with the Black Tip. He was aware of the betrayal of Big Bolliger and he knew he wanted revenge.   
  
In the open window he felt her presence as she positioned herself in the window frame 

" Come in Inej " He said without even looking up from his papers. He would never admit it but he always liked having her around.   
  


"There was a package at your door but I know better than to bother you, so I went around and asked who was it from"

"Who's it from?"

"Nobody came forward or said who sent it, so I brought it. It doesn't appear to be harmful " 

That got Kaz's attention, so he stood up and limped to her as she handed the box she walked right into the room.   
  


He put the box in the desk and when he opened it suddenly the room had four people that hadn't been there before. He recognized them immediately, Jesper Fahey, Wyland Van Eck, Nina Zenick and strangely a very pissed off Matthias Helvar which his first instinct was lunging at Nina. Inej interfered and he was now tied to a chair.   
  


"Matthias…" Nina said so flabbergasted and almost crying as she raised her hand to her mouth. 

"I'm going to kill you Witch" Matthias spatted 

"Save me the threats Helvar" Kaz spoke up. And Matthias glared "Now, how the hell did you all come from? And why are you here? 

They all looked at each other trying to understand what just happened but no one had any clue of what did they just witnessed. No one even dared to speak up specifically Wyland who didn't even knew who were this people.   
  
Eventually Inej said "maybe the box that we just opened" When Kaz tuned to see the box he picked up a book and a note.   
  


"Six of crows" read out loud an then looked at the note which read.   
  


**Hello crows**

**I've brought you here so you could read your very near future like tomorrow literally. Well the book is about a job you all did as a team and you are reading it so you could prevent some inconvenience that appeared along the way. I've stopped time so you have as much time as you want to read it.**

**I can't force you to read it but I do encourage you to read it if you wanna be rich**

**I guess I'll see you if you decide to finished the first book.**

"It's not signed" said after he finished 

"Do we actually believe it's real?" In an act of bravery Wyland spoke up

they all seemed to agree with that statement until Nina said "who would be so powerful to bring us all together? I think we should read it. We would be stupid to ignore the warning" 

"I guess you're right" said Jesper "and I also want to know what will happen to my beautiful self. I'll hate to be wasted potential so we should get comfortable" 

And so, the crows sat on their chairs as Kaz opened the book and started reading. 


	2. Part 1 : Shadow Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 : Joost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NO OWN SIX OF CROWS I ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO

"Here we go" Kaz mumbled slightly annoyed. 

** Joost had two problems: the moon and his mustache. **

"That wasn't how I expected that sentence to go" Jesper commented "Also, do we know any Joost?"

"I thought the book was about us," asked grumpily Matthias 

" I guess we'll see if you don't shut up," said Kaz

** He was supposed to be making his rounds at the Hoede house, but for the last fifteen minutes, he’d been hovering around the south-east wall of the gardens, trying to think of something clever and romantic to say to Anya. **

"Aww, that's so cute " cooed Nina

** If only Anya’s eyes were blue like the sea or green like an emerald. Instead, her eyes were brown – lovely, dreamy … melted chocolate brown? Rabbit fur brown? **

** “Just tell her she’s got skin like moonlight,” his friend Pieter had said. “Girls love that.” **

"Nevermind," she said and looked to Inej wich who just nodded in agreement.

** A perfect solution, but the Ketterdam weather was not cooperating. There’d been no breeze off the harbor that day, and a grey milk fog had wreathed the city’s canals and crooked alleys in damp. Even here among the mansions of the Geldstraat, the air hung thick with the smell of fish and bilge water, and smoke from the refineries on the city’s outer islands had smeared the night sky in a briny haze. The full moon looked less like a jewel than a yellowy blister in need of lancing. **

** Maybe he could compliment Anya’s laugh? Except he’d never heard her laugh. He wasn’t very good with jokes. **

** Joost glanced at his reflection in one of the glass panels set into the double doors that led from the house to the side garden. His mother was right. Even in his new uniform, he still looked like a baby. Gently, he brushed his finger along his upper lip. If only his mustache would come in. It felt thicker than yesterday. **

** He’d been a guard in the stadwatch less than six weeks, and it wasn’t nearly as exciting as he’d hoped. **

"Aah, so that's why I don't know him" realized the sharpshooter

** He thought he’d be running down thieves in the Barrel or patrolling the harbors, getting a first look at cargo coming in on the docks. But ever since the assassination of that ambassador at the town hall, the Merchant Council had been grumbling about security, so where was he? Stuck walking in circles at some lucky mercher’s house. Not just any mercher, though. Councilman Hoede was about as high placed in Ketterdam government as a man could be. The kind of man who could make a career. **

** Joost adjusted the set of his coat and rifle, then patted the weighted baton at his hip. Maybe Hoede would take a liking to him. Sharp-eyed and quick with the cudgel, Hoede would say. That fellow deserves a promotion. **

** “Sergeant JoostVan Poel,” he whispered, savouring the sound of the words. “Captain JoostVan Poel.” **

** “Stop gawking at yourself.” **

A few chuckles ran around the room 

** Joost whirled, cheeks going hot as Henk and Rutger strode into the side garden. They were both older, bigger, and broader of shoulder than Joost, and they were house guards, private servants of Councilman Hoede. That meant they wore his pale green livery, carried fancy rifles from Novyi Zem, and never let Joost forget he was a lowly grunt from the city watch. **

** “Petting that bit of fuzz isn’t going to make it grow any faster,” Rutger said with a loud laugh. **

** Joost tried to summon some dignity. “I need to finish my rounds.” **

** Rutger elbowed Henk. “That means he’s going to go stick his head in the Grisha workshop to get a look at his girl.” **

** “Oh, Anya, won’t you use your Grisha magic to make my mustache grow?” Henk mocked. **

** Joost turned on his heel, cheeks burning, and strode down the eastern side of the house. They’d been teasing him ever since he’d arrived. If it hadn’t been for Anya, he probably would have pleaded with his captain for a reassignment. He and Anya only ever exchanged a few words on his rounds, **

"Great! this whole chapter is about a love bird" sarcastically commented Kaz "Kill me now," he thought,

** but she was always the best part of his night. **

** And he had to admit, he liked Hoede’s house, too, the few peeks he’d managed through the windows. Hoede had one of the grandest mansions on the Geldstraat – floors set with gleaming squares of black and white stone, shining dark wood walls lit by blown-glass chandeliers that floated like jellyfish near the coffered ceilings. Sometimes Joost liked to pretend that it was his house, that he was a rich mercher just out for a stroll through his fine garden. **

** Before he rounded the corner, Joost took a deep breath. Anya, your eyes are brown like … tree bark? He’d think of something. He was better off being spontaneous anyway. **

** He was surprised to see the glass-paneled doors to the Grisha workshop open. More than the hand-painted blue tiles in the kitchen or the mantels laden with potted tulips, this workshop was a testimony to Hoede’s wealth. Grisha indentures didn’t come cheap, and Hoede had three of them. **

"That's totally barbaric!" Nina said indignantly

** But Yuri wasn’t seated at the long worktable, and Anya was nowhere to be seen. Only Retvenko was there, sprawled out on a chair in dark blue robes, eyes shut, a book open on his chest. **

** Joost hovered in the doorway, then cleared his throat. “These doors should be shut and locked at night.” **

** “House is like furnace,” Retvenko drawled without opening his eyes, his Ravkan accent thick and rolling. “Tell Hoede I stop sweating, I close doors.” **

** Retvenko was a Squaller, older than the other Grisha indentures, his hair shot through with silver. There were rumors he’d fought for the losing side in Ravka’s civil war and had fled to Kerch after the fighting. **

** “I’d be happy to present your complaints to Councilman Hoede,” Joost lied. The house was always overheated as if Hoede were under obligation to burn coal, but Joost wasn’t going to be the one to mention it. “Until then—” **

** “You bring news of Yuri?” Retvenko interrupted, finally opening his heavily hooded eyes. **

** Joost glanced uneasily at the bowls of red grapes and heaps of burgundy velvet on the worktable. Yuri had been working on bleeding color from the fruit into curtains for Mistress Hoede, but he’d fallen badly ill a few days ago, and Joost hadn’t seen him since. Dust had begun to gather on the velvet, and the grapes were going bad. **

** “I haven’t heard anything.” **

** “Of course you hear nothing. Too busy strutting around in stupid purple uniform.” **

** What was wrong with his uniform? And why did Retvenko even have to be here? He was Hoede’s personal Squaller and often traveled with the merchant’s most precious cargos, guaranteeing favorable winds to bring the ships safely and quickly to harbour. Why couldn’t he be away at sea now? **

** “I think Yuri may be quarantined.” **

** “So helpful,” Retvenko said with a sneer. “You can stop craning neck like hopeful goose,” he added. “Anya is gone.” **

** Joost felt his face heat again. “Where is she?” he asked, trying to sound authoritative. “She should be in after dark.” **

** “One hour ago, Hoede takes her. Same as night he came for Yuri.” **

** “What do you mean, ‘he came for Yuri’? Yuri fell ill.” **

** “Hoede comes for Yuri, Yuri comes back sick. Two days later, Yuri vanishes for good. Now Anya.” **

** For good?  **

"What's happening now? What are they doing to them?" Nina asked worriedly for her people.

** Maybe there was an emergency. If someone needed to be healed—” **

** “First Yuri, now Anya. I will be next, and no one will notice except poor little Officer Joost. Go now.” **

** “If Councilman Hoede—” **

** Retvenko raised an arm and a gust of air slammed Joost backwards. Joost scrambled to keep his footing, grabbing for the doorframe. **

** “I said now.” Retvenko etched a circle in the air, and the door slammed shut. Joost let go just in time to avoid having his fingers smashed, and toppled into the side garden. **

** He got to his feet as quickly as he could, wiping muck from his uniform, shame squirming in his belly. One of the glass panes in the door had cracked from the force. Through it, he saw the Squaller smirking. **

** “That’s counting against your indenture,” Joost said, pointing to the ruined pane. He hated how small and petty his voice sounded. **

** Retvenko waved his hand, and the doors trembled on their hinges. Without meaning to, Joost took a step back. **

** “Go and make your rounds, little watchdog,” Retvenko called. **

** “That went well,” snickered Rutger, leaning against the garden wall. **

** “How long had he been standing there? “Don’t you have something better to do than follow me around?” Joost asked. **

** “All guards are to report to the boathouse. Even you. Or are you too busy making friends?” **

** “I was asking him to shut the door.” **

** Rutger shook his head. “You don’t ask. You tell. They’re servants. Not honored guests.” **

** Joost fell into step beside him, insides still churning with humiliation. The worst part was that Rutger was right. Retvenko had no business talking to him that way. But what was Joost supposed to do? Even if he’d had the courage to get into a fight with a Squaller, it would be like brawling with an expensive vase. The Grisha weren’t just servants; they were Hoede’s treasured possessions. **

** What had Retvenko meant about Yuri and Anya being taken anyway? Had he been covering for Anya? Grisha indentures were kept to the house for good reason. To walk the streets without protection was to risk getting plucked up by a slaver and never seen again. Maybe she’s meeting someone, Joost speculated miserably. **

** His thoughts were interrupted by the blaze of light and activity down by the boathouse that faced the canal across the water he could see other fine mercher houses, tall and slender, the tidy gables of their rooftops making a dark silhouette against the night sky, their gardens and boathouses lit by glowing lanterns. **

** A few weeks before, Joost had been told that Hoede’s boathouse would be undergoing improvements and to strike it from his rounds. But when he and Rutger entered, he saw no paint or scaffolding. The gondels and oars had been pushed up against the walls. The other house guards were there in their sea-green livery, and Joost recognised two stadwatch guards in purple. But most of the interior was taken up by a huge box – a kind of freestanding cell that looked as if it was made from reinforced steel, its seams thick with rivets, a huge window embedded in one of its walls. The glass had a wavy bent, and through it, Joost could see a girl seated at a table, clutching her red silks tight around her. Behind her, a stadwatch guard stood at attention. **

** Anya, Joost realized with a start. Her brown eyes were wide and frightened, her skin pale. The little boy sitting across from her looked doubly terrified. His hair was sleep-tousled and his legs dangled “from the chair, kicking nervously at the air. **

** “Why all the guards?” asked Joost. There had to be more than ten of them crowded into the boathouse. Councilman Hoede was there, too, along with another merchant”  **

" Finally things are getting interesting," said Jesper who wanted to see action 

** Joost didn’t know, both of them dressed in mercher black. Joost stood up straighter when he saw they were talking to the captain of the stadwatch. He hoped he’d got all the garden mud off his uniform. “What is this?” **

** Rutger shrugged. “Who cares? It’s a break in the routine.” Joost looked back through the glass. Anya was staring out at him, her gaze unfocused. The day he’d arrived at Hoede house, she’d healed a bruise on his cheek. It had been nothing, the yellow-green remnants of a crack he’d taken to the face during a training exercise, but apparently Hoede had caught sight of it and didn’t like his guards looking like thugs. Joost had been sent to the Grisha workshop, and Anya had sat him down in a bright square of late winter sunlight. Her cool fingers had passed over his skin, and though the itch had been terrible, bare seconds later it was as if the bruise had never been.” **

** “When Joost thanked her, Anya had smiled and Joost was lost. He knew his cause was hopeless.  **

Matthias sympathized with the guard he knew that feeling all too we

** Even if she’d had any interest in him, he could never afford to buy her indenture from Hoede, and she would never marry unless Hoede decreed it. But it hadn’t stopped him from dropping by to say hello or to bring her little gifts. She’d liked the map of Kerch best, a whimsical drawing of their island nation, surrounded by mermaids swimming in the True Sea and ships blown along by winds depicted as fat-cheeked men. It was a cheap souvenir, the kind tourists bought along East Stave, but it had seemed to please her. **

** Now he risked raising a hand in greeting. Anya showed no reaction. **

** “She can’t see you, moron,” laughed Rutger. “The glass is mirrored on the other side.” **

** Joost’s cheeks pinked. “How was I to know that?” **

** “Open your eyes and pay attention for once.” **

** First Yuri, now Anya. “Why do they need a Grisha Healer? Is that boy injured?” **

** “He looks fine to me.” **

** The captain and Hoede seemed to reach some kind of agreement.” **

** “Through the glass, Joost saw Hoede enter the cell and give the boy an encouraging pat. There must have been vents in the cell because he heard Hoede say, “Be a brave lad, and there’s a few kruge in it for you.” Then he grabbed Anya’s chin with a liver-spotted hand. She tensed, and Joost’s gut tightened. Hoede gave Anya’s head a little shake. “Do as you’re told, and this will soon be over, ja?” **

** She gave a small, tight smile. “Of course, Onkle."  **

"What will they do to her?" Asked Nina more worriedly she dind't like the idea of her people being experiments 

** Hoede whispered a few words to the guard behind Anya, then stepped out. The door shut with a loud clang, and Hoede slid a heavy lock into place. **

** Hoede and the other merchant took positions almost directly in front of Joost and Rutger. **

** The merchant Joost didn’t know said, “You’re sure this is wise? This girl is a Corporalnik. After what happened to your Fabrikator—” **

** “If it was Retvenko, I’d be worried. But Anya has a sweet disposition. She’s a Healer. Not prone to aggression.” **

** “And you’ve lowered the dose?” **

"dose" that word hung around the room no one knew anything 

** “Yes, but we’re agreed that if we have the same results as the Fabrikator, the Council will compensate me? I can’t be asked to bear that expense.” **

** When the merchant nodded, Hoede signalled to the captain. “Proceed.” **

** The same results as the Fabrikator. Retvenko claimed Yuri had vanished. Was that what he’d meant? **

** “Sergeant,” said the captain, “are you ready?” **

** The guard inside the cell replied, “Yes, sir.” He drew a knife. **

** Joost swallowed hard. **

** “First test,” said the captain. **

** The guard bent forwards and told the boy to roll up his sleeve. The boy obeyed and stuck out his arm, popping the thumb of his other hand into his mouth. Too old for that, thought Joost. But the boy must be very scared. Joost had slept with a sock bear until he was nearly fourteen, a fact his older brothers had mocked mercilessly. **

** “This will sting just a bit,” said the guard. **

** The boy kept his thumb in his mouth and nodded, eyes round. **

** “This really isn’t necessary—” said Anya. **

** “Quiet, please,” said Hoede. **

** The guard gave the boy a pat then slashed a bright red cut across his forearm. The boy started crying immediately. **

** Anya tried to rise from her chair, but the guard placed a stern hand on her shoulder. **

** “It’s alright, sergeant,” said Hoede. “Let her heal him.” **

** Anya leaned forwards, taking the boy’s hand gently. “Shhhh,” she said softly. “Let me help.” **

** “Will it hurt?” the boy gulped. **

** She smiled. “Not at all. Just a little itch. Try to hold still for me?” **

** Joost found himself leaning closer. He’d never actually seen Anya heal someone. **

** Anya removed a handkerchief from her sleeve and wiped away the excess blood. Then her fingers brushed carefully over the boy’s wound. Joost watched in astonishment as the skin slowly seemed to re-form and knit together. **

** A few minutes later, the boy grinned and held out his arm. It looked a bit red but was otherwise smooth and unmarked. “Was that magic?” **

** Anya tapped him on the nose. “Of a sort. The same magic your own body works when given time and a bit of bandage.” **

** The boy looked almost disappointed. **

** “Good, good,” Hoede said impatiently. “Now the parem.” **

"Parem!" they said all together 

"what's that gonna do? isn't a stimulant?" asked Wylan 

No one really understood what was going on and why where they there. 

** Joost frowned. He’d never heard that word. **

** The captain signalled to his sergeant. “Second sequence.” **

** “Put out your arm,” the sergeant said to the boy once again. **

** The boy shook his head. “I don’t like that part.” **

** “Do it.” **

** The boy’s lower lip quivered, but he put out his arm. The guard cut him once more. Then he placed a small wax paper envelope on the table in front of Anya. **

** “Swallow the contents of the packet,” Hoede instructed Anya. **

** “What is it?” she asked, voice trembling. **

** “That isn’t your concern.” **

** “What is it?” she repeated. **

** “It’s not going to kill you. We’re going to ask you to perform some simple tasks to judge the drug’s effects. The sergeant is there to make sure you do only what you’re told and no more, understood?” **

** Her jaw set, but she nodded. **

** “No one will harm you,” said Hoede. “But remember, if you hurt the sergeant, you have no way out of that cell. The doors are locked from the outside.” **

** “What is that stuff?” whispered Joost. **

** “Don’t know,” said Rutger. **

** “What do you know?” he muttered. **

** “Enough to keep my trap shut.” **

** Joost scowled. **

** With shaking hands, Anya lifted the little wax envelope and opened the flap. **

** “Go on,” said Hoede. **

** She tipped her head back and swallowed the powder. For a moment she sat, waiting, lips pressed together. **

** “Is it just jurda?” she asked hopefully. Joost found himself hoping, too. Jurda was nothing to fear, a stimulant everyone in the stadwatch chewed to stay awake on late watches. **

** “What does it taste like?” Hoede asked. **

** “Like jurda but sweeter, it—” **

** Anya inhaled sharply. Her hands seized the table, her pupils dilating enough that her eyes looked nearly black. “Ohhh,” she said, sighing. It was nearly a purr.  **

** The guard tightened his grip on her shoulder. **

What is going on? thought Kaz it hasn't been very informative or entertaining since it started but he was definitely curious.

** How do you feel?” **

** She stared at the mirror and smiled. Her tongue peeked through her white teeth, stained like rust. Joost felt suddenly cold. **

** “Just as it was with the Fabrikator,” murmured the merchant. **

** “Heal the boy,” Hoede commanded. **

** She waved her hand through the air, the gesture almost dismissive, and the cut on the boy’s arm sealed instantly. The blood lifted briefly from his skin in droplets of red then vanished. His skin looked perfectly smooth, all trace of blood or redness gone. The boy beamed. “That was definitely magic. ** ”

"UM THAT ISN'T HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO WORK" Shouted Nina she was now freaking out.

The rest were almost the same as confused as her. 

"This is not normal!" she was trying to calm herself down 

"your kind is not normal" said Matthias quipped back

"not now Matthias, you don't understand what this could mean if this drug gets out" she was paniking 

"We still don't understand anything we should read more and see what will happen" said inj calmly trying to relax her friend who was in disbelief 

** “It feels like magic,” Anya said with that same eerie smile. **

** “She didn’t touch him,” marvelled the captain. **

** “Anya,” said Hoede. “Listen closely. We’re going to tell the guard to perform the next test now.” **

** “Mmm,” hummed Anya. **

** “Sergeant,” said Hoede. “Cut off the boy’s thumb.” **

** The boy howled and started to cry again. He shoved his hands beneath his legs to protect them. **

** I should stop this, Joost thought. I should find a way to protect her, both of them. But what then? He was a nobody, new to the stadwatch, new to this house. Besides, he discovered in a burst of shame, I want to keep my job. **

** Anya merely smiled and tilted her head back so she was looking at the sergeant. “Shoot the glass.” **

** “What did she say?” asked the merchant. **

** “Sergeant!” the captain barked out. **

** “Shoot the glass,” Anya repeated. The sergeant’s face went slack. He cocked his head to one side as if listening to a distant melody, then unslung his rifle and aimed at the observation window. **

** “Get down!” someone yelled. **

** Joost threw himself to the ground, covering his head as the rapid hammer of gunfire filled his ears and bits of glass rained down on his hands and back. His thoughts were a panicked clamour. His mind tried to deny it, but he knew what he’d just seen. Anya had commanded the sergeant to shoot the glass. She’d made him do it. But that couldn’t be. Grisha Corporalki specialised in the human body. They could stop your heart, slow your breathing, snap your bones. They couldn’t get inside your head. **

"well i guess now they can" said Kaz grimly 

** For a moment there was silence. Then Joost was on his feet with everyone else, reaching for his rifle. Hoede and the captain shouted at the same time. **

** “Subdue her!” **

** "Shoot her!” **

** “Do you know how much money she’s worth?” Hoede retorted.  **

"Really?! that's what you're worried about?" said mockingly Jesper

** “Someone restrain her! Do not shoot!” **

** Anya raised her hands, red sleeves spread wide. “Wait,” she said. **

** Joost’s panic vanished. He knew he’d been frightened, but his fear was a distant thing. He was filled with expectation. He wasn’t sure what was coming, or when, only that it would arrive and that it was essential he be ready to meet it. It might be bad or good. He didn’t really care. His heart was free of worry and desire. He longed for nothing, wanted for nothing, his mind silent, his breath steady. He only needed to wait. **

** He saw Anya rise and pick up the little boy. He heard her crooning tenderly to him, some Ravkan lullaby. **

** “Open the door and come in, Hoede,” she said. Joost heard the words, understood them, forgot them. **

** Hoede walked to the door and slid the bolt free. He entered the steel cell. **

** “Do as you’re told, and this will soon be over, ja?” Anya murmured with a smile. Her eyes were black and bottomless pools. Her skin was alight, glowing, incandescent. A thought flickered through Joost’s mind – beautiful as the moon.” **

** Anya shifted the boy’s weight in her arms. “Don’t look,” she murmured against his hair. “Now,” she said to Hoede. “Pick up the knife." **

"Well that ended darkly," said Jesper 

"How can a drug have so much power?" wondered Inej

"The effects afterward concern me, she wouldn't survive that long with that amount of power" theorized Wyland 

"The problem your people create is unnatural to this world" spat Matthias

Nina ignored his comment and said " We have to stop who's ever creating that drug" 

Finally, Kaz spoke "we? we aren't going to do anything, I couldn't care less if this drug got out" after a moment he continued "But I guess will found soon enough our encounter with the drug" 

"Shall we continue?"


	3. Part 1 : Shadow Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2: Inej

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO  
> I also wanted to say that I loved reading your comments I started writing it thinking that no one would read it. You've made my day :)   
> I'll try to write at least two chapters a week.

"Chapter 2 Inej" read Kaz couldn't tell if he was curious or shocked

Jesper snorted "Anything you want to lay on the table?" 

"This is going to be extremely embarrassing, isn't it?" Inej said she was kind of terrified that people would see what she thought.

"Yes; but I'll be here to defend you," said Nina cheerfully.

** Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.  **

"Starting off strong, huh?" said Jesper

** Those were the words whispered on the streets of Ketterdam, in the taverns and coffeehouses, in the dark and bleeding alleys of the pleasure district known as the Barrel. The boy they called Dirtyhands didn’t need a reason any more than he needed permission – to break a leg, sever an alliance, or change a man’s fortunes with the turn of a card.  **

** Of course they were wrong, Inej considered as she crossed the bridge over the black waters of the Beurscanal to the deserted main square that fronted the Exchange. **

** Every act of violence was deliberate, and every favor came with enough strings attached to stage a puppet show. Kaz always had his reasons. Inej could just never be sure they were good ones. Especially tonight.  **

"So, let me get this straight. Is supposed to happen tomorrow?" asked Wyland

"It appears so," said Kaz. Who was processing without reaction to what Inej thought of him. 

** Inej checked her knives, silently reciting their names as she always did when she thought there might be trouble. It was a practical habit, but a comfort, too. The blades were her companions. She liked knowing they were ready for whatever the night might bring.  **

** She saw Kaz and the others gathered near the great stone arch that marked the eastern entrance to the Exchange. Three words had been carved into the rock above them: Enjent, Voorhent, Almhent. Industry, Integrity, Prosperity. **

** She kept close to the shuttered shopfronts that lined the square, avoiding the pockets of flickering gaslight cast by the streetlamps. As she moved, she inventoried the crew Kaz had brought with him: Dirix, Rotty, Muzzen and Keeg, Anika and Pim, and his chosen seconds for tonight’s parley, Jesper and Big Bolliger. They jostled and bumped each other, laughing, stamping their feet against the cold snap that had surprised the city this week, the last gasp of winter before spring began in earnest. They were all bruisers and brawlers, culled from the younger members of the Dregs, the people Kaz trusted most. **

** Inej noted the glint of knives tucked into their belts, lead pipes, weighted chains, ax handles studded with rusty nails, and here and there, the oily gleam of a gun barrel. She slipped silently into their ranks, scanning the shadows near the Exchange for signs of Black Tip spies.  **

** “Three ships!” Jesper was saying.  **

** “The Shu sent them. They were just sitting in First Harbour, cannons out, red flags flying, stuffed to the sails with gold.”  **

** Big Bolliger gave a low whistle.  **

** “Would have liked to see that.”  **

** “Would have liked to steal that,” replied Jesper.  **

"Of course I would," said Jesper

** “Half the Merchant Council was down there flapping and squawking, trying to figure out what to do.” **

** “Don’t they want the Shu paying their debts?” Big Bolliger asked. Kaz shook his head, dark hair glinting in the lamplight. He was a collection of hard lines and tailored edges – sharp jaw, lean build, wool coat snug across his shoulders. **

Inej blushed not wanting to meet his eyes 

** “Yes and no,” he said in his rocksalt rasp. “It’s always good to have a country in debt to you. Makes for friendlier negotiations.”  **

** “Maybe the Shu are done being friendly,” said Jesper. “They didn’t have to send all that treasure at once. You think they stuck that trade ambassador?”  **

** Kaz’s eyes found Inej unerringly in the crowd. **

"How do you do that?" Jesper was amused but Kaz didn't answer he just kept reading.

** Ketterdam had been buzzing about the assassination of the ambassador for weeks. It had nearly destroyed Kerch-Zemeni relations and sent the Merchant Council into an uproar. The Zemeni blamed the Kerch. The Kerch suspected the Shu. Kaz didn’t care who was responsible; the murder fascinated him because he couldn’t figure out how it had been accomplished. In one of the busiest corridors of the Stadhall, in full view of more than a dozen government officials, the Zemeni trade ambassador had stepped into a washroom. No one else had entered or left, but when his aide knocked on the door a few minutes later, there had been no answer. When they’d broken down the door, they’d found the ambassador facedown on the white tiles, a knife in his back, the taps still running.  **

"Maybe he was killed by a Grisha with  _ parem _ ," said Wyland 

"A working theory" replied Kaz 

** Kaz had sent Inej to investigate the premises after hours. The washroom had no other entrance, no windows or vents, and even Inej hadn’t mastered the art of squeezing herself through the plumbing. Yet the Zemeni ambassador was dead. Kaz hated a puzzle he couldn’t solve, and he and Inej had concocted a hundred theories to account for the murder – none of which satisfied. But they had more pressing problems tonight.  **

** She saw him signal to Jesper and Big Bolliger to divest themselves of weapons. Street law dictated that for a parley of this kind each lieutenant be seconded by two of his foot soldiers and that they all be unarmed.  _ Parley _ . The word felt like a deception – strangely prim, an antique. No matter what street law decreed, this night smelled like violence.  **

** “Go on, give those guns over,” Dirix said to Jesper.  **

** With a great sigh, Jesper removed the gunbelts at his hips. She had to admit he looked less himself without them.  **

"They're everything to me" cried, Jesper 

"There, there," said Nina mockingly 

** The Zemeni sharpshooter was long-limbed, brown-skinned, constantly in motion. He pressed his lips to the pearl handles of his prized revolvers, bestowing each with a mournful kiss. **

** “Take good care of my babies,” Jesper said as he handed them over to Dirix. “If I see a single scratch or nick on those, I’ll spell  _ forgive me  _ on your chest in bullet holes.”  **

"That's morbid," said Wyland 

** “You wouldn’t waste the ammo.”  **

** “And he’d be dead halfway through  _ forgive _ ,” Big Bolliger said as he dropped a hatchet, a switchblade, and his preferred weapon – a thick chain weighted with a heavy padlock – into Rotty’s expectant hands.  **

** Jesper rolled his eyes. “It’s about sending a message. What’s the point of a dead guy with  _ forg _ written on his chest?”  **

** “Compromise,” Kaz said. “I’m sorry does the trick and uses fewer bullets.”  **

"You're horrible" Matthias grumbled.

** Dirix laughed, but Inej noted that he cradled Jesper’s revolvers very gently.  **

** “What about that?” Jesper asked, gesturing to Kaz’s walking stick. **

** Kaz’s laugh was low and humorless. “Who’d deny a poor cripple his cane?”  **

"Yeah, right" snorted Jesper 

** “If the cripple is you, then any man with sense.”  **

****

They all laughed at what Jesper said

** “Then it’s a good thing we’re meeting Geels.” Kaz drew a watch from his vest pocket. “It’s almost midnight.” **

** Inej turned her gaze to the Exchange. It was little more than a large rectangular courtyard surrounded by warehouses and shipping offices. But during the day, it was the heart of Ketterdam, bustling with wealthy merchers buying and selling shares in the trade voyages that passed through the city’s ports. Now it was nearly twelve bells, and the Exchange was deserted but for the guards who patrolled the perimeter and the rooftop. They’d been bribed to look the other way during tonight’s parley.  **

** The Exchange was one of the few remaining parts of the city that hadn’t been divvied up and claimed in the ceaseless skirmishes between Ketterdam’s rival gangs. It was supposed to be neutral territory. But it didn’t  _ feel _ neutral to Inej. It felt like the hush of the woods before the snare yanks tight and the rabbit starts to scream. It felt like a trap.  **

** “This is a mistake,” she said. Big Bolliger started; he hadn’t known she was standing there. Inej heard the name the Dregs preferred for her whispered among their ranks –  _ the Wraith. _ “Geels is up to something.”  **

** “Of course he is,” said Kaz. His voice had the rough, abraded texture of stone against stone. Inej always wondered if he’d sounded that way as a little boy. If he’d ever been a little boy.  **

They all looked at Inej, confusion written all over their faces. She blushed but she didn't say anything. 

"Yes, I was once a boy and I don't think I've had the same voice," said Kaz. He was internally smiling

** “Then why come here tonight?”  **

** “Because this is the way Per Haskell wants it.”  **

**_ Old man, old ways _ , Inej thought but didn’t say, and she suspected the other Dregs were thinking the same thing.  **

** “He’s going to get us all killed,” she said. **

** Jesper stretched his long arms overhead and grinned, his teeth white against his dark skin. He had yet to give up his rifle, and the silhouette of it across his back made him resemble a gawky, long-limbed bird. **

They all laughed and Inej mouthed "Sorry" to Jesper 

** “Statistically, he’ll probably only get some of us killed.” **

** “It’s not something to joke about,” she replied. The look Kaz cast her was amused. She knew how she sounded – stern, fussy, like an old crone making dire pronouncements from her porch. She didn’t like it, but she also knew she was right. Besides, old women must know something, or they wouldn’t live to gather wrinkles and yell from their front steps.  **

** “Jesper isn’t making a joke, Inej,” said Kaz. “He’s figuring the odds.” Big Bolliger cracked his huge knuckles. “Well, I’ve got lager and a skillet of eggs waiting for me at the Kooperom, so I can’t be the one to die tonight.”  **

** “Care to place a wager?” Jesper asked.  **

** “I’m not going to bet on my own death.”  **

** Kaz flipped his hat onto his head and ran his gloved fingers along the brim in a quick salute. “Why not, Bolliger? We do it every day.” **

** He was right. Inej’s debt to Per Haskell meant she gambled her life every time she took on a new job or assignment, every time she left her room at the Slat. Tonight was no different.  **

** Kaz struck his walking stick against the cobblestones as the bells from the Church of Barter began to chime. The group fell silent. The time for talk was done. “Geels isn’t smart, but he’s just bright enough to be trouble,” said Kaz. “No matter what you hear, you don’t join the fray unless I give the command. Stay sharp.” Then he gave Inej a brief nod. “And stay hidden.”  **

** “No mourners,” Jesper said as he tossed his rifle to Rotty.  **

** “No funerals,” the rest of the Dregs murmured in reply. Among them, it passed for ‘good luck’. **

Strange people thought Matthias

** Before Inej could melt into the shadows, Kaz tapped her arm with his crow’s head cane. “Keep a watch on the rooftop guards. Geels may have them in his pocket.”  **

** “Then—” Inej began, but Kaz was already gone.  **

"This is a mistake," repeated Inej. They were walking into a trap

** Inej threw up her hands in frustration. She had a hundred questions, but as usual, Kaz was keeping a stranglehold on the answers. **

** She jogged towards the canal-facing wall of the Exchange. Only the lieutenants and their seconds were allowed to enter during the parley. But just in case the Black Tips got any ideas, the other Dregs would be waiting right outside the eastern arch with weapons at the ready. She knew Geels would have his crew of heavily armed Black Tips gathered at the western entrance.  **

** Inej would find her way in. The rules of fair play among the gangs were from Per Haskell’s time. Besides, she was the Wraith – the only law that applied to her was gravity, and some days she defied that, too.  **

** The lower level of the Exchange was dedicated to windowless warehouses, so Inej located a drainpipe to shin up. Something made her hesitate before she wrapped her hand around it. She drew a bone light from her pocket and gave it a shake, casting a pale green glow over the pipe. It was slick with oil. She followed the wall, seeking another option, and found a stone cornice bearing a statue of Kerch’s three flying fishes within reach. She stood on her toes and tentatively felt along the top of the cornice. It had been covered in ground glass. _ I am expected _ , she thought with grim pleasure.  **

** She’d joined up with the Dregs less than two years ago, just days after her fifteenth birthday. It had been a matter of survival, but it gratified her to know that, in such a short time, she’d become someone to take precautions against. Though, if the Black Tips thought tricks like this would keep the Wraith from her goal, they were sadly mistaken.  **

** She drew two climbing spikes from the pockets of her quilted vest and wedged first one then the other between the bricks of the wall as she hoisted herself higher, her questing feet finding the smallest holds and ridges in the stone. As a child learning the highwire, she’d gone barefoot. But the streets of Ketterdam were too cold and wet for that. After a few bad spills, she’d paid a Grisha Fabrikator working in secret out of a gin shop on the Wijnstraat to make her a pair of leather slippers with nubbly rubber soles. They were perfectly fitted to her feet and gripped any surface with surety.  **

** On the second story of the Exchange, she hoisted herself onto a window ledge just wide enough to perch on.  **

** Kaz had done his best to teach her, but she didn’t quite have his way with breaking and entering, and it took her a few tries to finesse the lock. Finally she heard a satisfying  _ click _ , and the window swung open on a deserted office, its walls covered in maps marked with trade routes, and chalkboards listing share prices and the names of ships. She ducked inside, refastened the latch, and picked her way past the empty desks with their neat stacks of orders and tallies. **

** She crossed to a slender set of doors and stepped onto a balcony that overlooked the central courtyard of the Exchange. Each of the shipping offices had one. From here, callers announced new voyages and arrivals of inventory or hung the black flag that indicated that a ship had been lost at sea with all its cargo. The floor of the Exchange would erupt into a flurry of trades, runners would spread the word throughout the city, and the price of goods, futures, and shares in outgoing voyages would rise or fall. But tonight all was silence.  **

** A wind came in off the harbor, bringing the smell of the sea, ruffling the stray hairs that had escaped the braided coil at the nape of Inej’s neck.  **

** Down in the square, she saw the sway of lamplight and heard the thump of Kaz’s cane on the stones as he and his seconds made their way across the square. On the opposite side, she glimpsed another set of lanterns heading towards them. The Black Tips had arrived. Inej raised her hood. She pulled herself onto the railing and leaped soundlessly to the neighboring balcony, then the next, tracking Kaz and the others around the square, staying as close as she could. His dark coat rippled in the salt breeze, his limp more pronounced tonight, as it always was when the weather turned cold. She could hear Jesper keeping up a lively stream of conversation, and Big Bolliger’s low, rumbling chuckle. **

** As she drew nearer to the other side of the square, Inej saw that Geels had chosen to bring  _ Elzinger _ and  _ Oomen _ – exactly as she had predicted. Inej knew the strengths and weaknesses of every member of the Black Tips, not to mention Harley’s Pointers, the Liddies, the Razorgulls, the Dime Lions, and every other gang working the streets of Ketterdam. It was her job to know that Geels trusted Elzinger because they’d come up through the ranks of the Black Tips together and because Elzinger was built like a stack of boulders – nearly seven feet tall, dense with muscle, his wide, mashed-in face jammed low on a neck thick as a pylon. She was suddenly glad Big Bolliger was with Kaz.  **

She blushed again but this time Kaz said " I wouldn't be too glad about it" 

"Why?" they all asked but he said "I guess we'll see"

** That Kaz had chosen Jesper to be one of his seconds was no surprise. Twitchy as Jesper was, with or without his revolvers, he was at his best in a fight, and she knew he’d do anything for Kaz. She’d been less sure when Kaz had insisted on Big Bolliger as well. Big Bol was a bouncer at the Crow Club, perfectly suited to tossing out drunks and wasters, but too heavy on his feet to be much use when it came to a real tussle. Still, at least he was tall enough to look Elzinger in the eye. **

** Inej didn’t want to think too much on Geels’ other second. Oomen made her nervous. He wasn’t as physically intimidating as Elzinger. Oomen was made like a scarecrow – not scrawny, but as if beneath his clothes, his body had been put together at wrong angles. Word was he’d once crushed a man’s skull with his bare hands, wiped his palms clean on his shirtfront, and kept right on drinking.  **

** Inej tried to quiet the unease roiling through her and listened as Geels and Kaz made small talk in the square while their seconds patted each of them down to make sure no one was carrying.  **

** “Naughty,” Jesper said as he removed a tiny knife from Elzinger’s sleeve and tossed it across the square. **

"Only you can make jokes like that in a time like that," said Inej

"Thank you" Jesper mockingly bowed 

"It wasn't a compliment"

** “Clear,” declared Big Bolliger as he finished patting down Geels and moved on to Oomen. **

** Kaz and Geels discussed the weather, the suspicion that the Kooperom was serving watered-down drinks now that the rent had been raised – dancing around the real reason they’d come here tonight. In theory, they would chat, make their apologies, agree to respect the boundaries of Fifth Harbour, then all head out to find a drink together – at least that’s what Per Haskell had insisted. **

**_ But what does Per Haskell know? _ Inej thought as she looked for the guards patrolling the roof above, trying to pick out their shapes in the dark.  **

** Haskell ran the Dregs, but these days, he preferred to sit in the warmth of his room, drinking lukewarm lager, building model ships, and telling long stories of his exploits to anyone who would listen. He seemed to think territory wars could be settled as they once had been: with a short scuffle and a friendly handshake.  **

** But every one of Inej’s senses told her that was not how this was going to play out. Her father would have said the shadows were about their own business tonight. Something bad was going to happen here.  **

** Kaz stood with both gloved hands resting on the carved crow’s head of his cane. He looked totally at ease, his narrow face obscured by the brim of his hat. Most gang members in the Barrel loved flash: gaudy waistcoats, watch fobs studded with false gems, trousers in every print and pattern imaginable. Kaz was the exception – the picture of restraint, his dark vests and trousers simply cut and tailored along severe lines. At first, she’d thought it was a matter of taste, but she’d come to understand that it was a joke he played on the upstanding merchers. He enjoyed looking like one of them. **

** “I’m a businessman,” he’d told her. “No more, no less.”  **

** “You’re a thief, Kaz.” **

** “Isn’t that what I just said?”  **

** Now he looked like some kind of priest come to preach to a group of circus performers. A _ young  _ priest, she thought with another pang of unease. Kaz had called Geels old and washed up, but he certainly didn’t seem that way tonight. The Black Tips’ lieutenant might have wrinkles creasing the corners of his eyes and burgeoning jowls beneath his sideburns, but he looked confident, experienced. Next to him Kaz looked … well, seventeen.  **

** “Let’s be fair, ja? All we want is a bit more scrub,” Geels said, tapping the mirrored buttons of his lime-green waistcoat. “It’s not fair for you to cull every spend-happy tourist stepping off a pleasure boat at Fifth Harbour.”  **

** “Fifth Harbour is ours, Geels,” Kaz replied. “The Dregs get first crack at the pigeons who come looking for a little fun.”  **

** Geels shook his head. “You’re a young one, Brekker,” he said with an indulgent laugh. “Maybe you don’t understand how these things work. The harbours belong to the city, and we have as much right to them as anyone. We’ve all got a living to make.”  **

"Yeah, right" scoffed Kaz 

** Technically, that was true. But Fifth Harbour had been useless and all but abandoned by the city when Kaz had taken it over. He’d had it dredged, and then built out the docks and the quay, and he’d had to mortgage the Crow Club to do it. Per Haskell had railed at him and called him a fool for the expense, but eventually he’d relented. According to Kaz, the old man’s exact words had been, “Take all that rope and hang yourself.” But the endeavour had paid for itself in less than a year.  **

** Now Fifth Harbour offered berths to mercher ships, as well as boats from all over the world carrying tourists and soldiers eager to see the sights and sample the pleasures of Ketterdam.  **

** The Dregs got first try at all of them, steering them – and their wallets – into brothels, taverns, and gambling dens owned by the gang. Fifth Harbour had made the old man very rich, and cemented the Dregs as real players in the Barrel in a way that not even the success of the Crow Club had. But with profit came unwanted attention. Geels and the Black Tips had been making trouble for the Dregs all year,encroaching on Fifth Harbour, picking off pigeons that weren’t rightfully theirs.  **

** “Fifth Harbour is ours,” Kaz repeated. “It isn’t up for negotiation. You’re cutting into our traffic from the docks, and you intercepted a shipment of  _ jurda _ that should have docked two nights ago.” “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”  **

** “I know it comes easy, Geels, but try not to play dumb with me.”  **

snorts ran around the room 

** Geels took a step forwards. Jesper and Big Bolliger tensed.  **

** “Quit flexing, boy,” Geels said. “We all know the old man doesn’t have the stomach for a real brawl.” **

** Kaz’s laugh was dry as the rustle of dead leaves. “But _ I’m _ the one at your table, Geels, and I’m not here for a taste. You want a war, I’ll make sure you eat your fill.”  **

** “And what if you’re not around, Brekker? Everyone knows you’re the spine of Haskell’s operation – snap it and the Dregs collapse.” Jesper snorted. “Stomach, spine. What’s next, spleen?”  **

** “Shut it,” Oomen snarled. The rules of parley dictated that only the lieutenants could speak once negotiations had begun. Jesper mouthed “sorry” and elaborately pantomimed locking his lips shut.  **

"I'm not sorry"

** “I’m fairly sure you’re threatening me, Geels,” Kaz said. “But I want to be certain before I decide what to do about it.”  **

** “Sure of yourself, aren’t you, Brekker?” **

** “Myself and nothing else.”  **

** Geels burst out laughing and elbowed Oomen. “Listen to this cocky little piece of crap. Brekker, you don’t own these streets. Kids like you are fleas. A new crop of you turns up every few years to annoy your betters until a big dog decides to scratch. And let me tell you, I’m about tired of the itch.” He crossed his arms, pleasure rolling off him in smug waves. “What if I told you there are two guards with city-issue rifles pointed at you and your boys right now?”  **

** Inej’s stomach dropped. Was that what Kaz had meant when he said Geels might have the guards in his pocket? Kaz glanced up at the roof. “Hiring city guards to do your killing? I’d say that’s an expensive proposition for a gang like the Black Tips. I’m not sure I believe your coffers could support it.” **

** Inej climbed onto the railing and launched herself from the safety of the balcony, heading for the roof. If they survived the night, she was going to kill Kaz.  **

"I'm going to be fine Inej," said Kaz trying to reassure her but she didn't feel relaxed.

** There were always two guards from the stadwatch posted on the roof of the Exchange. A few kruge from the Dregs and the Black Tips had ensured they wouldn’t interfere with the parley, a common enough transaction. But Geels was implying something very different. Had he really managed to bribe city guards to play sniper for him? If so, the Dregs’ odds of surviving this night had just dwindled to a knife’s point.  **

** Like most of the buildings in Ketterdam, the Exchange had a sharply gabled roof to keep off heavy rain, so the guards patrolled the rooftop via a narrow walkway that overlooked the courtyard. Inej ignored it. It was easier going but would leave her too exposed. Instead she scaled halfway up the slick roof tiles and started crawling, her body tilted at a precarious angle, moving like a spider as she kept one eye on the guards’ walkway and one ear on the conversation below. Maybe Geels was bluffing. Or maybe two guards were hunched over the railing right now with Kaz or Jesper or Big Bolliger in their sights.  **

** “Took some doing,” Geels admitted. “We’re a small operation right now, and city guards don’t come cheap. But it’ll be worth it for the prize.”  **

** “That being me?”  **

** “That being you.” **

"I'm flattered," said Kaz

** “I’m flattered.”  **

"You just repeated yourself" laughed Jesper

** “The Dregs won’t last a week without you.”  **

** “I’d give them a month on sheer momentum.”  **

** The thought rattled noisily around in Inej’s head.  _ If Kaz was gone, would I stay? Or would I skip out on my debt? Take my chances with Per Haskell’s enforcers? _ If she didn’t move faster, she might well find out.  **

** “Smug little slum rat.” Geels laughed. “I can’t wait to wipe that look off your face.”  **

** “So do it,” Kaz said. Inej risked a look down. His voice had changed, all humour gone.  **

** “Should I have them put a bullet in your good leg, Brekker?”  **

** Where are the guards? Inej thought, picking up her pace. She raced across the steep pitch of the gable. The Exchange stretched nearly the length of a city block. There was too much territory to cover.  **

"This is getting intense," said the sharpshooter

"Be more specific, next time" said Inej annoyed 

** “Stop talking, Geels. Tell them to shoot.”  **

** “Kaz—” said Jesper nervously.  **

** “Go on. Find your balls and give the order.”  **

** What game was Kaz playing? Had he expected this? Had he just assumed Inej would find her way to the guards in time?  **

They all looked at him waiting for an answer but he kept quiet no revealing anything.

** She glanced down again. Geels radiated anticipation. He took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. Inej’s steps faltered, and she had to fight not to go sliding straight off the edge of the roof. He’s going to do it. I’m going to watch Kaz die.  **

** “Fire!” Geels shouted.  **

** A gunshot split the air. Big Bolliger let loose a cry and crumpled to the ground **

"WHAT?" they all said 

"Why would you do that?" said Jesper

But Kaz didn't even look at them he just kept reading.

“ ** Damn it!” shouted Jesper, dropping to one knee beside Bolliger and pressing his hand to the bullet wound as the big man moaned. “You worthless podge!” he yelled at Geels. “You just violated neutral territory.”  **

** “Nothing to say you didn’t shoot first,” Geels replied. “And who’s going to know? None of you are walking out of here.”  **

** Geels’ voice sounded too high. He was trying to maintain his composure, but Inej could hear panic pulsing against his words, the startled wingbeat of a frightened bird. Why? Moments before he’d been all bluster. That was when Inej saw Kaz still hadn’t moved.  **

** “You don’t look well, Geels.” **

** “I’m just fine,” he said.  **

** But he wasn’t. He looked pale and shaky. His eyes were darting right and left as if searching the shadowed walkway of the roof. “Are you?” Kaz asked conversationally. “Things aren’t going quite as planned, are they?”  **

** “Kaz,” Jesper said. “Bolliger’s bleeding bad—”  **

** “Good,” Kaz said ignoring him.  **

** “Kaz, he needs a medik!”  **

** Kaz spared the wounded man the barest glance. “What he needs to do is stop his bellyaching and be glad I didn’t have Holst take him down with a headshot.”  **

You know you are twisted, right? said Nina

** Even from above, Inej saw Geels flinch. **

** “That’s the guard’s name, isn’t it?” Kaz asked. “Willem Holst and Bert Van Daal – the two city guards on duty tonight. The ones you emptied the Black Tips’ coffers to bribe?”  **

** Geels said nothing. “ **

** Willem Holst,” Kaz said loudly, his voice floating up to the roof, “likes to gamble almost as much as Jesper does, so your money held a lot of appeal. But Holst has much bigger problems – let’s call them urges. I won’t go into detail. A secret’s not like coin. It doesn’t keep its value in the spending. You’ll just have to trust me when I say this one would turn even your stomach. Isn’t that right, Holst?”  **

** The response was another gunshot. It struck the cobblestones near Geels’ feet. Geels released a shocked bleat and sprang back. This time Inej had a better chance to track the origin of the gunfire. The shot had come from somewhere near the west side of the building. If Holst was there, that meant the other guard – Bert Van Daal – would be on the east side. Had Kaz managed to neutralise him, too? Or was he counting on her? She sped over the gables.  **

** “Just shoot him, Holst!” Geels bellowed, desperation sawing at his voice. “Shoot him in the head!”  **

** Kaz snorted in disgust. “Do you really think that secret would die with me? Go on, Holst,” he called. “Put a bullet in my skull. There will be messengers sprinting to your wife and your watch captain’s door before I hit the ground.”  **

** No shot came.  **

** “How?” Geels said bitterly. “How did you even know who would be on duty tonight? I had to pay through the gills to get that roster. You couldn’t have outbid me.”  **

** “Let’s say my currency carries more sway.”  **

** “Money is money.”  **

** “I trade in information, Geels, the things men do when they think no one is looking. Shame holds more value than coin ever can.” **

** He was grandstanding, Inej saw that, buying her time as she leaped over the slate shingles.  **

** “Are you worrying about the second guard? Good old Bert Van Daal?” Kaz asked. “Maybe he’s up there right now, wondering what he should do. Shoot me? Shoot Holst? Or maybe I got to him, too, and he’s getting ready to blow a hole in your chest, Geels.” He leaned in as if he and Geels were sharing a great secret. “Why not give Van Daal the order and find out?”  **

** Geels opened and closed his mouth like a carp, then bellowed, “Van Daal!”  **

** Just as Van Daal parted his lips to answer, Inej slipped up behind him and placed a blade to his throat. She’d barely had time to pick out his shadow and slide down the rooftiles. Saints, Kaz liked to cut it close.  **

** " ** Yeah next time give me more directions," She said still annoyed

** “Shhhh,” she whispered in Van Daal’s ear. She gave him a tiny jab in the side so that he could feel the point of her second dagger pressed against his kidney.  **

** “Please,” he moaned. “I—”  **

** “I like it when men beg,” she said. “But this isn’t the time for it.”  **

"Kinky" said Nina teasingly

** Below, she could see Geels’ chest rising and falling with panicked breaths. “Van Daal!” he shouted again. There was rage on his face when he turned back to Kaz. “Always one step ahead, aren’t you?” “Geels, when it comes to you, I’d say I have a running start.”  **

** But Geels just smiled – a tiny smile, tight and satisfied. A victor’s smile, Inej realised with fresh fear.  **

** “The race isn’t over yet.” Geels reached into his jacket and pulled out a heavy black pistol.  **

There was a mix of tension and betray in the room 

"Why didn't you said anything?" said Jesper 

"Don't tell me my business Jes" 

** “Finally,” Kaz said. “The big reveal. Now Jesper can stop keening over Bolliger like a wet-eyed woman.”  **

** Jesper stared at the gun with stunned, furious eyes. “Bolliger searched him. He … Oh, Big Bol, you idiot,” he groaned.  **

** Inej couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The guard in her arms released a tiny squeak. In her anger and surprise, she’d accidentally tightened her grip. “Relax,” she said, easing her hold. But, all Saints, she wanted to put a knife through something. Big Bolliger had been the one to pat down Geels. There was no way he could have missed the pistol. He’d betrayed them.  **

** Was that why Kaz had insisted on bringing Big Bolliger here tonight – so he’d have public confirmation that Bolliger had gone over to the Black Tips? It was certainly why he’d let Holst put a bullet in Bolliger’s gut. But so what? Now everyone knew Big Bol was a traitor. Kaz still had a gun pointed at his chest. **

"How come you're so relaxed?" wondered Inej 

"Only time will tell"

** Geels smirked. “Kaz Brekker, the great escape artist. How are you going to wriggle your way out of this one?”  **

** “Going out the same way I came in.” Kaz ignored the pistol, turning his attention to the big man lying on the ground. “Do you know what your problem is, Bolliger?” He jabbed at the wound in Big Bol’s stomach with the tip of his cane. “That wasn’t a rhetorical question. Do you know what your biggest problem is?”  **

** Bolliger mewled. “Noooo …”  **

** “Give me a guess,” Kaz hissed.  **

** Big Bol said nothing, just released another trembling whimper.  **

** “All right, I’ll tell you. You’re lazy. I know it. Everyone knows it. So I had to ask myself why my laziest bouncer was getting up early twice a week to walk two extra miles to Cilla’s Fry for breakfast, especially when the eggs are so much better at the Kooperom. Big Bol becomes an early riser, the Black Tips start throwing their weight around Fifth Harbour and then intercept our biggest shipment of jurda. It wasn’t a tough connection to make.” He sighed and said to Geels, “This is what happens when stupid people start making big plans, ja?”  **

** “Doesn’t matter much now, does it?” replied Geels. “This gets ugly, I’m shooting from close range. Maybe your guards get me or my guys, but no way you’re going to dodge this bullet.”  **

** Kaz stepped into the barrel of the gun so that it was pressed directly against his chest. “No way at all, Geels.”  **

** “You think I won’t do it?”  **

** “Oh, I think you’d do it gladly, with a song in your black heart. But you won’t. Not tonight.”  **

** Geels’ finger twitched on the trigger.  **

** “Kaz,” Jesper said. “This whole ‘shoot me’ thing is starting to concern me.” **

"Yeah, why are you so keen on dying?" said Jesper

"What are you hiding?" mused Wyland

** Oomen didn’t bother to object to Jesper mouthing off this time. One man was down. Neutral territory had been violated. The sharp tang of gunpowder already hung in the air – and along with it a question, unspoken in the quiet, as if the Reaper himself awaited the answer: How much blood will be shed tonight?  **

** In the distance a siren wailed.  **

** “Nineteen Burstraat,” Kaz said. **

** Geels had been shifting slightly from foot to foot; now he went very still.  **

** “That’s your girl’s address, isn’t it, Geels?”  **

** Geels swallowed. “Don’t have a girl.”  **

** “Oh yes, you do,” crooned Kaz. “She’s pretty, too. Well, pretty enough for a fink like you. Seems sweet. You love her, don’t you?” Even from the rooftop, Inej could see the sheen of sweat on Geels’ waxen face. “Of course you do. No one that fine should ever have looked twice at Barrel scum like you, but she’s different. She finds you charming. Sure sign of madness if you ask me, but love is strange that way. Does she like to rest her pretty head on your shoulder? Listen to you talk about your day?”  **

** Geels looked at Kaz as if he was finally seeing him for the first time. The boy he’d been talking to had been cocky, reckless, easily amused, but not frightening – not really. Now the monster was here, dead-eyed and unafraid. Kaz Brekker was gone, and Dirtyhands had come to see the rough work done.  **

** “She lives at Nineteen Burstraat,” Kaz said in his gravelly rasp. “Three floors up, geraniums in the window boxes. Two Dregs are waiting outside her door right now, and if I don’t walk out of here whole and feeling righteous, they will set that place alight from floor to rooftop. It will go up in seconds, burning from both ends with poor Elise trapped in the middle. Her blonde hair will catch first. Like the wick of a candle.”  **

** “You’re bluffing,” said Geels, but his pistol hand was trembling.  **

** Kaz lifted his head and inhaled deeply. “Getting late now. You heard the siren. I smell the harbour on the wind, sea and salt, and maybe – is that smoke I smell, too?” There was pleasure in his voice.  **

**_ Oh, Saints, _ Kaz, Inej thought miserably.  _ What have you done now?  _ Again, Geels’ finger twitched on the trigger, and Inej tensed.  **

** “I know, Geels. I know,” Kaz said sympathetically. “All that planning and scheming and bribing for nothing. That’s what you’re thinking right now. How bad it will feel to walk home knowing what you’ve lost. How angry your boss is going to be when you show up empty-handed and that much poorer for it. How satisfying it would be to put a bullet in my heart. You can do it. Pull the trigger. We can all go down together. They can take our bodies out to the Reaper’s Barge for burning, like all paupers go. Or you can take the blow to your pride, go back to Burstraat, lay your head in your girl’s lap, fall asleep still breathing, and dream of revenge. It’s up to you, Geels. Do we get to go home tonight?”  **

"You are something else, aren't you? said, Nina

** Geels searched Kaz’s gaze, and whatever he saw there made his shoulders sag. Inej was surprised to feel a pang of pity for him. He’d walked into this place buoyed on bravado, a survivor, a champion of the Barrel. He’d leave as another victim of Kaz Brekker.  **

** “You’ll get what’s coming to you someday, Brekker.”  **

** “I will,” said Kaz, “if there’s any justice in the world. And we all know how likely that is.”  **

** Geels let his arm drop. The pistol hung uselessly by his side. Kaz stepped back, brushing the front of his shirt where the gun barrel had rested. “Go and tell your general to keep the Black Tips out of Fifth Harbour and that we expect him to make amends for the shipment of jurda we lost, plus five per cent for drawing steel on neutral ground and five per cent more for being such a spectacular bunch of asses.”  **

A quiet laugh lingered in the room 

** Then Kaz’s cane swung in a sudden sharp arc. Geels screamed as his wrist bones shattered. The gun clattered to the paving stones.  **

** “I stood down!” cried Geels, cradling his hand. “I stood down!”  **

** “You draw on me again, I’ll break both your wrists, and you’ll have to hire someone to help you take a piss.”  **

** Kaz tipped the brim of his hat up with the head of his cane. “Or maybe you can get the lovely Elise to do it for you.”  **

** Kaz crouched down beside Bolliger. The big man whimpered. “Look at me, Bolliger. Assuming you don’t bleed to death tonight, you have until sunset tomorrow to get out of Ketterdam. I hear you’re anywhere near the city limits, and they’ll find you stuffed in a keg at Cilla’s Fry.” Then he looked at Geels. “You help Bolliger, or I find out he’s running with the Black Tips, don’t think I won’t come after you.” “Please, Kaz,” moaned Bolliger.  **

** “You had a home, and you put a wrecking ball through the front door, Bolliger. Don’t look for sympathy from me.” He rose and checked his pocket watch. “I didn’t expect this to go on so long. I’d best be on my way or poor Elise will be getting a trifle warm.”  **

** Geels shook his head. “There’s something wrong with you, Brekker. I don’t know what you are, but you’re not made right." **

** Kaz cocked his head to one side. “You’re from the suburbs, aren’t you, Geels? Came to the city to try your luck?” He smoothed his lapel with one gloved hand. “Well, I’m the kind of bastard they only manufacture in the Barrel.”  **

** Despite the loaded gun at the Black Tips’ feet, Kaz turned his back on them and limped across the cobblestones towards the eastern arch. Jesper squatted down next to Bolliger and gave him a gentle pat on the cheek.  **

** “Idiot,” he said sadly and followed Kaz out of the Exchange.  **

** From the roof, Inej continued to watch as Oomen picked up and holstered Geels’ gun and the Black Tips said a few quiet words to each other.  **

** “Don’t leave,” Big Bolliger begged. “Don’t leave me.” He tried to cling to the cuff of Geels’ trousers.  **

** Geels shook him off. They left him curled on his side, leaking blood onto the cobblestones. Inej plucked Van Daal’s rifle from his hands before she released him.  **

** “Go home,” she told the guard.  **

** He cast a single terrified glance over his shoulder and sprinted off down the walkway. Far below, Big Bol had started trying to drag himself across the floor of the Exchange. He might be stupid enough to cross Kaz Brekker, but he’d survived this long in the Barrel, and that took will. He might make it.  **

**_ Help him _ , a voice inside her said. Until a few moments ago, he’d been her brother in arms. It seemed wrong to leave him alone. She could go to him, offer to put him out of his misery quickly, hold his hand as he passed.  **

** She could fetch a medik to save him. Instead, she spoke a quick prayer in the language of her Saints and began the steep climb down the outer wall. Inej pitied the boy who might die alone with no one to comfort him in his last hours or who might live and spend his life as an exile. But the night’s work wasn’t yet over, and the Wraith didn’t have time for traitors. **

"Well that was a journey," said Nina 

Matthias and Wyland didn't understand what was happening since they were very new to all of this. But they now understood that you could never go behind Kaz Brekker's back without punishment.

Inej was somehow glad that it was over and didn't reveal the way she felt for him she didn't want to be let down by that. 

"Can't believe Big Bol was a traitor" Jesper said still shocked. 

"We should continue" 


	4. Part 1 : Shadow Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3: Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO. 
> 
> Have you watched the teaser trailer for Shadow and Bone? at first, I wasn't planning on seeing it but now I'm so pumped to see the beautiful crows in action.
> 
> Thanks for the love and support, love reading the comments :)

“Chapter 3: Kaz,” said Kaz unpleasantly. He was kind of terrified of people knowing what he thought but he didn’t show it, he brushed it off like irritation.

“I don’t want to know what’s inside of that head of yours,” said Jesper in a shot of honesty

“Me neither” agreed Nina.

** Cheers greeted Kaz as he emerged from the eastern arch, Jesper trailing behind him and, if Kaz was any judge, already working himself into a sulk.  **

** Dirix, Rotty, and the others charged at them, whooping and shouting, Jesper’s revolvers held aloft. The crew had got the barest glimpse of the proceedings with Geels, but they’d heard most of it. Now they were chanting, “The Burstraat is on fire! The Dregs don’t have no water!”  **

** “I can’t believe he just turned tail!” jeered Rotty. “He had a loaded pistol in his hand!”  **

** “Tell us what you had on the guard,” Dirix begged.  **

** “Can’t be the usual stuff.”  **

** “I heard about a guy in Sloken who liked to roll around in apple syrup and then get two—” “I’m not talking,” said Kaz. “Holst could prove useful in the future.” **

“Kaz always has his reasons” murmured Inej. But her seat was so close to him, he heard her but he didn’t interrupt. 

** The mood was jittery, and their laughter had the frantic serration that came with near disaster. Some of them had expected a fight and were still itching for one. But Kaz knew there was more to it, and he hadn’t missed the fact that no one had mentioned Big Bolliger’s name. They’d been badly shaken by his betrayal – both the revelation and the way Kaz had delivered punishment. Beneath all that jostling and whooping, there was fear. Good.  **

** Kaz relied on the fact that the Dregs were all murderers, thieves, and liars. He just had to make sure they didn’t make a habit of lying to him.  **

** Kaz dispatched two of them to keep an eye on Big Bol and to make sure that if he made it to his feet, he left the city. The rest could return to the Slat and the Crow Club to drink off their worry, make some trouble, and spread the word of the night’s events. They’d tell what they’d seen, embroider the rest, and with every retelling, Dirtyhands would get crazier and more ruthless. But Kaz had business to attend to, and his first stop would be Fifth Harbour.  **

** Jesper stepped into his path. “You should have let me know about Big Bolliger,” he said in a furious whisper.  **

“Hey, you’re repeating yourself ** ” ** joked Nina 

** “Don’t tell me my business, Jes.”  **

** “You think I’m dirty, too?”  **

** “If I thought you were dirty, you’d be holding your guts in on the floor of the Exchange like Big Bol, so stop running your mouth.”  **

** Jesper shook his head and rested his hands on the revolvers he’d reclaimed from Dirix. Whenever he got cranky, he liked to lay hands on a gun, like a child seeking the comfort of a favored doll.  **

** It would have been easy enough to make peace. Kaz could have told Jesper that he knew he wasn’t dirty, reminded him that he’d trusted him enough to make him his only real second in a fight that could have gone badly wrong tonight. Instead, he said, “Go on, Jesper. There’s a line of credit waiting for you at the Crow Club. Play till morning or your luck runs out, whichever comes first.”  **

** Jesper scowled, but he couldn’t keep the hungry gleam from his eye. “Another bribe?”  **

** “I’m a creature of habit.”  **

** “Lucky for you, I am, too.” He hesitated long enough to say, “You don’t want us with you? Geels’ boys are gonna be riled after that.”  **

** “Let them come,” Kaz said and turned down Nemstraat without another word. If you couldn’t walk by yourself through Ketterdam after dark, then you might as well just hang a sign that read ‘soft’ around your neck and lie down for a beating.  **

** He could feel the Dregs’ eyes on his back as he headed over the bridge. He didn’t need to hear their whispers to know what they would say. They wanted to drink with him, hear him explain how he’d known Big Bolligerhad gone over to the Black Tips, listen to him describe the look in Geels’ eyes when he’d dropped his pistol. But they’d never get it from Kaz, and if they didn’t like it, they could find another crew to run with.  **

** No matter what they thought of him, they’d walk a little taller tonight. It was why they stayed, why they gave their best approximation of loyalty for him. When he’d officially become a member of the Dregs, he’d been twelve and the gang had been a laughing stock, street kids and washed-up cadgers running shell games and penny-poor cons out of a run-down house in the worst part of the Barrel. But he hadn’t needed a great gang, just one he could make great – one that needed him.  **

** Now they had their own territory, their own gambling hall, and that rundown house had become the Slat, a dry, warm place to get a hot meal or hole up when you were wounded. Now the Dregs were feared. Kaz had given them that. He didn’t owe them small talk on top of it.  **

** Besides, Jesper would smoothe it all over. A few drinks in and a few hands up and the sharpshooter’s good nature would return. He held a grudge about as well as he held his liquor, and he had a gift for making Kaz’s victories sound like they belonged to everyone.  **

** As Kaz headed down one of the little canals that would take him past Fifth Harbour, he realised he felt – Saints, he almost felt hopeful. Maybe he should see a medik. The Black Tips had been nipping at his heels for weeks, and now he’d forced them to play their hand. His leg wasn’t too bad either, despite the winter chill. The ache was always there, but tonight it was just a dull throb. Still, a part of him wondered if the parlay was some sort of test Per Haskell had set for him. Haskell was perfectly capable of convincing himself that he was the genius making the Dregs prosper, especially if one of his cronies was whispering in his ear. That idea didn’t sit easy, but Kaz could worry about Per Haskell tomorrow. For now, he’d make sure everything was running on schedule at the harbour and then head home to the Slat for some much-needed sleep.  **

** He knew Inej was shadowing him. She’d been with him all the way from the Exchange. He didn’t call out to her. She would make herself visible when she was good and ready. Usually, he liked the quiet; in fact, he would have happily sewn most people’s lips shut. But when she wanted to, Inej had a way of making you feel her silence. It tugged at your edges. **

** Kaz managed to endure it all the way past the iron railings of Zentzbridge, the grating covered in little bits of rope tied in elaborate knots, sailors’ prayers for safe return from sea. Superstitious rot. Finally he gave in and said, “Spit it out already, Wraith.”  **

** Her voice came from the dark. “You didn’t send anyone to Burstraat.”  **

“So you were bluffing” Wraith commented, shocked

** “Why would I?”  **

** “If Geels doesn’t get there in time—”  **

** “No one’s setting fires at Nineteen Burstraat.”  **

** “I heard the siren …”  **

** “A happy accident. I take inspiration where I find it.”  **

** “You were bluffing, then. She was never in danger.”  **

** Kaz shrugged, unwilling to give her an answer. Inej was always trying to wring little bits of decency from him. “When everyone knows you’re a monster, you needn’t waste time doing every monstrous thing.”  **

Jesper and Nina looked at each other and smiled, they knew there was something between them but they didn’t want to say anything yet.

** “Why did you even agree to the meet if you knew it was a set-up?” She was somewhere to the right of him, moving without a sound. He’d heard other members of the gang say she moved like a cat, but he suspected cats would sit attentively at her feet to learn her methods. “I’d call the night a success,” he said. “Wouldn’t you?”  **

** “You were nearly killed. So was Jesper.”  **

“Aww, you care” joked Jesper. Inej swiftly moved to punch him in the arm and got back to her seat next to Kaz

There was definitely tension between the two of them after reading this, but as always they bottle it up.

** “Geels emptied the Black Tips’ coffers paying useless bribes. We’ve outed a traitor, re-established our claim on Fifth Harbour, and I don’t have a scratch on me. It was a good night.”  **

** “How long have you known about Big Bolliger?”  **

** “Weeks. We’re going to be short-staffed. That reminds me, let Rojakke go.”  **

** “Why? There’s no one like him at the tables.”  **

** “Lots of sobs know their way around a deck of cards. Rojakke is a little too quick. He’s skimming.”  **

** “He’s a good dealer, and he has a family to provide for. You could give him a warning, take a finger.”  **

** “Then he wouldn’t be a good dealer anymore, would he ** ?” 

“Your sense of humor is so messed up,” said Nina

** When a dealer was caught skimming money from a gambling hall, the floor boss would cut off one of his pinkie fingers. It was one of those ridiculous punishments that had somehow become codified in the gangs. It threw off the skimmer’s balance, forced him to relearn his shuffle, and showed any future employer that he had to be watched. But it also made him clumsy at the tables. It meant he was focusing on simple things like the mechanics of the deal instead of watching the players. **

** Kaz couldn’t see Inej’s face in the dark, but he sensed her disapproval.  **

** “Greed is your god, Kaz.”  **

** He almost laughed at that. “No, Inej. Greed bows to me. It is my servant and my lever.”  **

** “And what god do you serve, then?”  **

** “Whichever will grant me good fortune.”  **

** “I don’t think gods work that way.”  **

** “I don’t think I care.”  **

** She blew out an exasperated breath. Despite everything she’d been through, Inej still believed her Suli Saints were watching over her. Kaz knew it, and for some reason, he loved to rile her.  **

Inej blushed and so did Kaz.

"Would you l-" Jesper was talking but he was interrupted by the glare Kaz sends him. 

Nina chuckled softly, she was going to pry later but she was enjoying the turn of events.

** He wished he could read her expression now. There was always something so satisfying about the little furrow between her black brows.  **

** “How did you know I would get to Van Daal in time?” she asked. “Because you always do.”  **

** “You should have given me more warning.”  **

** “I thought your Saints would appreciate the challenge.”  **

** For a while she said nothing, then from somewhere behind him, he heard her. “Men mock the gods until they need them, Kaz.”  **

** He didn’t see her go, only sensed her absence. Kaz gave an irritated shake of his head. To say he trusted Inej would be stretching the point, but he could admit to himself that he’d come to rely on her. It had been a gut decision to pay off her indenture with the Menagerie, and it had cost the Dregs sorely. Per Haskell had needed convincing, but Inej was one of the best investments Kaz had ever made. That she was so very good at remaining unseen made her an excellent thief of secrets, the best in the Barrel. But the fact that she could simply erase herself bothered him. She didn’t even have a scent. All people carried scents, and those scents told stories – the hint of carbolic on a woman’s fingers or woodsmoke in her hair, the wet wool of a man’s suit, or the tinge of gunpowder lingering in his shirt cuffs. But not Inej. She’d somehow mastered invisibility. She was a valuable asset. So why couldn’t she just do her job and spare him her moods? **

"UGH, men! why are they so stupid?" said Nina irritated 

Inej agreed but she was disappointed to know that Kaz only saw her as an investment. She knew that her liking of him was once sided but she couldn't help herself to be by his side.

Kaz wanted to apologize but he didn't know-how. 

** Suddenly, Kaz knew he wasn’t alone. He paused, listening. He’d cut through a tight alley split by a murky canal. There were no street lamps here and little foot traffic, nothing but the bright moon and the small boats bumping against their moorings. He’d dropped his guard, let his mind give in to distraction.  **

** A man’s dark shape appeared at the head of the alley.  **

** “What business?” Kaz asked. The shape lunged at him. Kaz swung his cane in a low arc. It should have made direct contact with his attacker’s legs, but instead, it sailed through empty space. Kaz stumbled, thrown off balance by the force of his swing.  **

** Then, somehow, the man was standing right in front of him. A fist connected with Kaz’s jaw. Kaz shook off the stars that rocketed through his head. He spun back around and swung again. But no one was there. The weighted head of Kaz’s walking stick whooshed through nothing and cracked against the wall.  **

** Kaz felt the cane torn from his hands by someone on his right. Was there more than one of them?  **

** And then a man stepped through the wall. Kaz’s mind stuttered and reeled, trying to explain what he was seeing as a cluster of mist became a cloak, boots, the pale flash of a face.  **

"A Grisha with jurda I presume" Said Wylan

Inej didn't know how to feel she was definitely worried but still pissed off.

** Ghosts, Kaz thought. A boy’s fear, but it came with absolute surety. Jordie had come for his vengeance at last. It’s time to pay your debts, Kaz. You never get something for nothing.  **

** The thought passed through Kaz’s mind in a humiliating, gibbering wave of panic, then the phantom was upon him, and he felt the sharp jab of a needle in his neck. A ghost with a syringe?  **

** Fool, he thought. And then he was in the dark. **

** Kaz woke to the sharp scent of ammonia. His head jerked back as he returned fully to consciousness.  **

** The old man in front of him wore the robes of a university medik. He had a bottle of wuftsalts in his hand that he was waving beneath Kaz’s nose. The stink was nearly unbearable. **

** “Get away from me,” Kaz rasped.  **

** The medik eyed him dispassionately, returning the wuftsalts to their leather pouch. Kaz flexed his fingers, but that was all he could do. He’d been shackled to a chair with his arms behind his back. Whatever they’d injected him with had left him groggy.  **

** The medik moved aside, and Kaz blinked twice, trying to clear his vision and make sense of the absurd luxury of his surroundings. He’d expected to wake in the den of the Black Tips or some other rival gang. But this wasn’t cheap Barrel flash. A squat decked out like this took real money – mahogany panels dense with carvings of frothing waves and flying fish, shelves lined with books, leaded windows, and he was fairly sure that was a real DeKappel. One of those demure oil portraits of a lady with a book open in her lap and a lamb lying at her feet. The man observing him from behind a broad desk had the prosperous look of a mercher. But if this was his house, why were there armed members of the stadwatch guarding the door? Damn it, Kaz thought, am I under arrest? If so, this merch was in for a surprise. Thanks to Inej, he had information on every judge, bailiff, and high councilman in Kerch. He’d be out of his cell before sunrise. Except he wasn’t in a cell, he was chained to a chair, so what the hell was going on? The man was in his forties with a gaunt but handsome face and a hairline making a determined retreat from his forehead. When Kaz met his gaze, the man cleared his throat and pressed his fingers together.  **

** “Mister Brekker, I hope you’re not feeling too poorly.”  **

** “Get this old canker away from me. I feel fine.”  **

** The merch gave a nod to the medik. “You may go. Please send me your bill. And I would, of course, appreciate your discretion in this matter.”  **

** The medik secured his bag and exited the room. As he did, the mercher rose and picked up a sheaf of papers from his desk. He wore the perfectly cut frock coat and vest of all Kerch merchants – dark, refined, deliberately staid. But the pocket watch and tie pin told Kaz all he needed to know: Heavy links of laurel leaves made up the watch’s gold fob, and the pin was a massive, perfect ruby. **

** I’m going to pry that fat jewel from its setting and jab the pin right through your mercher neck for chaining me to a chair, Kaz thought. Butall he said was, “Van Eck.” **

"This should be interesting," said Wylan unenthusiastic

"What's your problem?" Jesper asked 

"You'll see" responded Kaz who already knew his real identity

** The man nodded. No bow, of course. Merchants didn’t bow to scum from the Barrel. “You know me, then?”  **

** Kaz knew the symbols and jewels of all the Kerch merchant houses. Van Eck’s crest was the red laurel. It didn’t take a professor to make the connection.  **

** “I know you,” he said. “You’re one of those merch crusaders always trying to clean up the Barrel.”  **

** Van Eck gave another small nod. “I try to find men honest work.” Kaz laughed. “What’s the difference between wagering at the Crow Club and speculating on the floor of the Exchange?”  **

** “One is theft and the other is commerce.”  **

** “When a man loses his money, he may have trouble telling them apart.”  **

** “The Barrel is a den of filth, vice, violence—”  **

** “How many of the ships you send sailing out of the Ketterdam harbours never return?”  **

"You're stalling, but why?" mused Wylan.

** “That doesn’t—”  **

** “One out of five, Van Eck. One out of every five vessels you send seeking coffee and jurda and bolts of silk sinks to the bottom of the sea, crashes on the rocks, falls prey to pirates. One out of five crews dead, their bodies lost to foreign waters, food for deep sea fishes. Let’s not speak of violence.”  **

** “I won’t argue ethics with a stripling from the Barrel.”  **

** Kaz didn’t really expect him to. He was just stalling for time as he tested the tightness of the cuffs around his wrists. He let his fingers feel along the length of chain as far as they were able, still puzzling over where Van Eck had brought him. Though Kaz had never met the man himself, he’d had cause to learn the layout of Van Eck’s house inside and out. Wherever they were, it wasn’t the mercher’s mansion.  **

** “Since you didn’t bring me here to philosophise, what business?” It was the question spoken at the opening of any meeting. A greeting from a peer, not a plea from a prisoner.  **

** “I have a proposition for you. Rather, the Council does.”  **

** Kaz hid his surprise. “Does the Merchant Council begin all negotiations with a beating?”  **

** “Consider it a warning. And a demonstration.” **

** Kaz remembered the shape from the alley, the way it had appeared and disappeared like a ghost. Jordie.  **

"Don't" said Kaz knowing what they were all thinking 

** He gave himself an internal shake. Not Jordie, you podge. Focus. They’d nabbed him because he’d been flush off a victory and distracted. This was his punishment, and it wasn’t a mistake he’d make again. That doesn’t explain the phantom. For now, he pushed the thought aside.  **

** “What possible use would the Merchant Council have for me?”  **

** Van Eck thumbed through the papers in his hand. “You were first arrested at ten,” he said, scanning the page. **

They all looked at him they were surprised, to say the least.

** “Everyone remembers his first time.”  **

** “Twice again that year, twice at eleven. You were picked up when the stadwatch rousted a gambling hall when you were fourteen, but you haven’t served any time since.”  **

** It was true. No one had managed a pinch on Kaz in three years. “I cleaned up,” Kaz said. “Found honest work, live a life of industry and prayer.”  **

** “Don’t blaspheme,” Van Eck said mildly, but his eyes flashed briefly with anger.  **

** A man of faith, Kaz noted, as his mind sorted through everything he knew about Van Eck – prosperous, pious, a widower recently remarried to a bride not much older than Kaz himself. And, of course, there was the mystery of Van Eck’s son.  **

Wylan looked down, no one but Jesper notice but he was still baffled 

** Van Eck continued paging through the file. “You run book on prize fights, horses, and your own games of chance. You’ve been floor boss at the Crow Club for more than two years. You’re the youngest to ever run a betting shop, and you’ve doubled its profits in that time. You’re a blackmailer—”  **

** “I broker information.”  **

** “A con artist—”  **

** “I create opportunity.”  **

** “A bawd and a murderer—”  **

** “I don’t run whores, and I kill for a cause.”  **

** “And what cause is that?”  **

** “Same as yours, merch. Profit.”  **

** “How do you get your information, Mister Brekker?”  **

** “You might say I’m a lockpick.” **

Most of the people were aware of Kaz's wit and snark remarks but it was fun seeing him taunt Van Eck

** “You must be a very gifted one.”  **

** “I am indeed.” Kaz leaned back slightly. “You see, every man is a safe, a vault of secrets and longings. Now, there are those who take the brute’s way, but I prefer a gentler approach – the right pressure applied at the right moment, in the right place. It’s a delicate thing.” “Do you always speak in metaphors, Mister Brekker?”  **

** Kaz smiled. “It’s not a metaphor.”  **

** He was out of his chair before his chains hit the ground. He leaped the desk, snatching a letter opener from its surface in one hand, and catching hold of the front of Van Eck’s shirt with the other. The fine fabric bunched as he pressed the blade to Van Eck’s throat. Kaz was dizzy, and his limbs felt creaky from being trapped in the chair, but everything seemed sunnier with a weapon in his hand.  **

** Van Eck’s guards were facing him, all with guns and swords drawn. He could feel the merch’s heart pounding beneath the wool of his suit.  **

** “I don’t think I need to waste breath on threats,” Kaz said. “Tell me how to get to the door or I’m taking you through the window with me.”  **

** “I think I can change your mind.”  **

** Kaz gave him a little jostle. “I don’t care who you are or how big that ruby is. You don’t take me from my own streets. And you don’t try to make a deal with me while I’m in chains.”  **

** “Mikka,” Van Eck called.  **

** And then it happened again. A boy walked through the library wall. He was pale as a corpse and wore an embroidered blue Grisha Tidemaker’s coat with a red-and-gold ribbon at the lapel indicating his association with Van Eck’s house. But not even Grisha could just stroll through a wall.  **

** Drugged, Kaz thought, trying not to panic. I’ve been drugged. Or it was some kind of illusion, the kind they performed in the theatres off East Stave – a girl cut in half, doves from a teapot.  **

** “What the hell is this?” he growled.  **

** “Let me go and I’ll explain.”  **

** “You can explain right where you are.” Van Eck huffed a short, shaky breath.  **

** “What you’re seeing are the effects of jurda parem.”  **

** “Jurda is just a stimulant.” The little dried blossoms were grown in Novyi Zem and sold in shops all over Ketterdam. In his early days in theDregs, Kaz had chewed them to stay alert during stakeouts. It had stained his teeth orange for days after. “It’s harmless,” he said. “Jurda parem is something completely different, and it is most definitely not harmless.”  **

** “So you did drug me.”  **

** “Not you, Mister Brekker. Mikka.”  **

** Kaz took in the sickly pallor of the Grisha’s face. He had dark hollows beneath his eyes, and the fragile, trembling build of someone who had missed several meals and didn’t seem to care.  **

"Oh, saints! poor Mikka" said Nina sorrowful 

** “Jurda parem is a cousin to ordinary jurda,” Van Eck continued. “It comes from the same plant. We’re not sure of the process by which the drug is made, but a sample of it was sent to the Kerch Merchant Council by a scientist named Bo Yul-Bayur.”  **

** “Shu?”  **

** “Yes. He wished to defect, so he sent us a sample to convince us of his claims regarding the drug’s extraordinary effects. Please, Mister Brekker, this is a most uncomfortable position. If you’d like, I will give you a pistol, and we can sit and discuss this in more civilised fashion.”  **

** “A pistol and my cane.”  **

** Van Eck gestured to one of his guards, who exited the room and returned a moment later with Kaz’s walking stick – Kaz was just glad he used the damn door.  **

** “Pistol first,” Kaz said. “Slowly.”  **

** The guard unholstered his weapon and handed it to Kaz by the grip. Kaz grabbed and cocked it in one quick movement, then released Van Eck, tossed the letter opener on to the desk, and snatched his cane from the guard’s hand. The pistol was more useful, but the cane brought Kaz a relief he didn’t care to quantify.  **

** Van Eck took a few steps backwards, putting distance between himself and Kaz’s loaded gun. He didn’t seem eager to sit. Neither was Kaz, so he kept close to the window, ready to bolt if need be. Van Eck took a deep breath and tried to set his suit to rights. “That cane is quite a piece of hardware, Mister Brekker. Is it Fabrikator made?”  **

** It was, in fact, the work of a Grisha Fabrikator, lead-lined and perfectly weighted for breaking bones. “None of your business. Get talking, Van Eck.” **

** The mercher cleared his throat.  **

** “When Bo Yul-Bayur sent us the sample of jurda parem, we fed it to three Grisha, one from each Order.”  **

** “Happy volunteers?”  **

** “Indentures,” Van Eck conceded.  **

"Great, you'll use them like lab rats" huffed the Heartreder

** “The first two were a Fabrikator and a Healer indentured to Councilman Hoede. Mikka is a Tidemaker. He’s mine. You’ve seen what he can do using the drug.”  **

** Hoede. Why did that name ring a bell?  **

** “I don’t know what I’ve seen,” Kaz said as he glanced at Mikka. The boy’s gaze was focused intently on Van Eck as if awaiting his next command. Or maybe another fix.  **

** “An ordinary Tidemaker can control currents, summon water or moisture from the air or a nearby source. They manage the tides in our harbour. But under the influence of jurda parem, a Tidemaker can alter his own state from solid to liquid to gas and back again, and do the same with other objects. Even a wall.”  **

** Kaz was tempted to deny it, but he couldn’t explain what he’d just seen any other way. “How?”  **

** “It’s hard to say. You’re aware of the amplifiers some Grisha wear?” **

** “I’ve seen them,” Kaz said. Animal bones, teeth, scales. “I hear they’re hard to come by.”  **

** “Very. But they only increase a Grisha’s power. Jurda parem alters a Grisha’s perception.”  **

** “So?”  **

** “Grisha manipulate matter at its most fundamental levels. They call it the Small Science. Under the influence of parem, those manipulations become faster and far more precise. In theory, jurda parem is just a stimulant like its ordinary cousin. But it seems to sharpen and hone a Grisha’s senses. They can make connections with extraordinary speed. Things become possible that simply shouldn’t be.”  **

** “What does it do to sorry sobs like you and me?”  **

** Van Eck seemed to bristle slightly at being lumped in with Kaz, but he said, “It’s lethal. An ordinary mind cannot tolerate parem in even the lowest doses.” “You said you gave it to three Grisha. What can the others do?”  **

** “Here,” Van Eck said, reaching for a drawer in his desk.  **

** Kat lifted his pistol. “Easy" **

** With exaggerated slowness, Van Eck slid his hand into the desk drawer and pulled out a lump of gold. “This started as lead.”  **

** “Like hell it did.”  **

"Yeah sure it did" scoffed Jesper not believing it. 

** Van Eck shrugged. “I can only tell you what I saw. The Fabrikator took a piece of lead in his hands, and moments later we had this.” “How do you even know it’s real?” asked Kaz.  **

** “It has the same melting point as gold, the same weight and malleability. If it’s not identical to gold in every way, the difference has eluded us. Have it tested if you like.”  **

** Kaz tucked his cane under his arm and took the heavy lump from Van Eck’s hand. He slipped it into his pocket. Whether it was real or just a convincing imitation, a chunk of yellow that big could buy plenty on the streets of the Barrel.  **

** “You could have got that anywhere,” Kaz pointed out.  **

** “I would bring Hoede’s Fabrikator here to show you himself, but he isn’t well.”  **

** Kaz’s gaze flicked to Mikka’s sickly face and damp brow. The drug clearly came with a price.  **

** “Let’s say this is all true and not cheap, coin-trick magic. What does it have to do with me?”  **

** “Perhaps you heard of the Shu paying off the entirety of their debt to Kerch with a sudden influx of gold? The assassination of the trade ambassador from Novyi Zem? The theft of documents from a military base in Ravka?”  **

** So that was the secret behind the murder of the ambassador in the washroom. And the gold in those three Shu ships must have been Fabrikator made. Kaz hadn’t heard anything about Ravkan documents, but he nodded anyway.  **

** “We believe all these occurrences are the work of Grisha under the control of the Shu government and under the influence of jurda parem.” Van Eck scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Mister Brekker, I want you to think for a moment about what I’m telling you. Men who can walk through walls – no vault or fortress will ever be safe again. People who can make gold from lead, or anything else for that matter, who can alter the very material of the world – financial markets would be thrown into chaos. The world economy would collapse.” **

"Ahh so that's what happened," said Inej 

"You were right," said Kaz gesturing to Wylan

** “Very exciting. What is it you want from me, Van Eck? You want me to steal a shipment? The formula?”  **

** “No, I want you to steal the man.”  **

** “Kidnap Bo Yul-Bayur?”  **

"Do I look like a charity case to you?" sarcastically commented Kaz 

** “Save him. A month ago we received a message from Yul-Bayur begging for asylum. He was concerned about his government’s plans for jurda parem, and we agreed to help him defect. We set up a rendezvous, but there was a skirmish at the drop point.”  **

** “With the Shu?”  **

** “No, with Fjerdans.”  **

"He's as good as dead," said Matthias 

** Kaz frowned. The Fjerdans must have spies deep in Shu Han or Kerch if they had learned about the drug and Bo Yul-Bayur’s plans so quickly. “So send some of your agents after him.”  **

** “The diplomatic situation is somewhat delicate. It is essential that our government not be tied to Yul-Bayur in any way.”  **

** “You have to know he’s probably dead. The Fjerdans hate Grisha. There’s no way they’d let knowledge of this drug get out.”  **

** “Our sources say he is very much alive and that he is awaiting trial.” Van Eck cleared his throat. “At the Ice Court.”  **

There was a piercing silence until they all started laughing, even Matthias, no one is crazy enough to do that.

"You're not considering it, are you? asked Wylan

"I guess will see," 

** Kaz stared at Van Eck for a long minute, then burst out laughing. “Well, it’s been a pleasure being knocked unconscious and taken captive by you, Van Eck. You can be sure your hospitality will be repaid when the time is right. Now have one of your lackeys show me to the door.”  **

** “We’re prepared to offer you five million kruge.”  **

** Kaz pocketed the pistol. He wasn’t afraid for his life now, just irritated that this fink had wasted his time. “This may come as a surprise to you, Van Eck, but we canal rats value our lives just as much as you do yours.”  **

** “Ten million.”  **

** “There’s no point to a fortune I won’t be alive to spend. Where’s my hat – did your Tidemaker leave it behind in the alley?”  **

** “Twenty.”  **

** Kaz paused. He had the eerie sense that the carved fish on the walls had halted mid-leap to listen. “Twenty million kruge?”  **

** Van Eck nodded. He didn’t look happy.  **

** “I’d need to convince a team to walk into a suicide mission. That won’t come cheap.” That wasn’t entirely true. Despite what he’d said to Van Eck, there were plenty of people in the Barrel who didn’t have much to live for.  **

** “Twenty million kruge is hardly cheap,” Van Eck snapped.  **

** “The Ice Court has never been breached.”  **

** “That’s why we need you, Mister Brekker. It’s possible Bo Yul-Bayur is already dead or that he’s given up all his secrets to the Fjerdans, but we think we have at least a little time to act before the secret of jurda parem is put into play.”  **

** “If the Shu have the formula—”  **

** “Yul-Bayur claimed he’d managed to mislead his superiors and keep the specifics of the formula secret. We think they’re operating from whatever limited supply Yul-Bayur left behind.”  **

** Greed bows to me. Maybe Kaz had been a bit too cocky on that front. Now greed was doing Van Eck’s bidding. The lever was at work, overcoming Kaz’s resistance, moving him into place.  **

** Twenty million kruge. What kind of job would this be? Kaz didn’t know anything about espionage or government squabbles, but why should stealing Bo Yul-Bayur from the Ice Court be any different from liberating valuables from a mercher’s safe? The most well-protected safe in the world, he reminded himself. He’d need a very specialised team, a desperate team that wouldn’t balk at the real possibility that they’d never come back from this job. And he wouldn’t be able to just pull from the Dregs. He didn’t have the talent he’d need in their ranks. That meant he’d have to watch his back more than usual.  **

"And of all the people you chose us?" ask Nina impressed.

"I will never help you, _ Demjim"  _ said Matthias

"Why am I here?" a baffled Wylan said

"Your answers will be revealed, eventually" responded Kaz 

** But if they managed it, even after Per Haskell got his cut, Kaz’s share of the scrub would be enough to change everything, to finally put into motion the dream he’d had since he’d first crawled out of a cold harbour with revenge burning a hole in his heart. His debt to Jordie would be paid at last.  **

** There would be other benefits, too. The Kerch Council would owe him, to say nothing of what this particular heist would do for his reputation. To infiltrate the impenetrable Ice Court and snatch a prize from the bastion of Fjerdan nobility and military might? With a job like this under his belt and that kind of scrub at his fingertips, he wouldn’t need Per Haskell any more. He could start his own operation.  **

"You're not agreeing to this?" said Inej she was annoyed with him but she couldn't felt worried about all this.

** But something was off. “Why me? Why the Dregs? There are more experienced crews out there.” **

** Mikka started to cough, and Kaz saw blood on his sleeve.  **

** “Sit,” Van Eck instructed gently, helping Mikka into a chair and offering the Grisha his handkerchief. He signalled to a guard. “Some water.”  **

** “Well?” prodded Kaz.  **

** “How old are you, Mister Brekker?”  **

** “Seventeen.”  **

** “You haven’t been arrested since you were fourteen, and since I know you are not an honest man any more than you were an honest boy, I can only assume you have the quality I most need in a criminal: You don’t get caught.” Van Eck smiled slightly then.  **

** “There’s also the matter of my DeKappel.”  **

** “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”  **

** “Six months ago, a DeKappel oil worth nearly one hundred thousand kruge disappeared from my home.”  **

** “Quite a loss.”  **

** “It was, especially since I had been assured that my gallery was impenetrable and that the locks on its doors were foolproof.”  **

** “I do seem to remember reading about that.”  **

** “Yes,” admitted Van Eck with a small sigh. “Pride is a perilous thing. I was eager to show off my acquisition and the lengths I’d gone to in order to protect it. And yet, despite all my safeguards, despite dogs and alarms and the most loyal staff in all of Ketterdam, my painting is gone.”  **

** “My condolences.”  **

** “It has yet to surface anywhere on the world market.”  **

** “Maybe your thief already had a buyer lined up.”  **

** “A possibility, of course. But I’m inclined to believe that the thief took it for a different reason.”  **

** “What would that be?”  **

** “Just to prove that he could.”  **

** “Seems like a stupid risk to me.”  **

** “Well, who can guess at the motives of thieves?”  **

** “Not me, certainly.”  **

** “From what I know of the Ice Court, whoever stole my DeKappel is exactly who I need for this job.”  **

** “Then you’d be better off hiring him. Or her.” **

"You just love to tease people, don't you? Nina commented trying not to laugh 

Wylan also likes this conversation, seeing his father humiliated by a teenager.

** “Indeed. But I’ll have to settle for you.”  **

** Van Eck held Kaz’s gaze as if he hoped to find a confession written between his eyes. At last, Van Eck asked, “We have a deal then?” “Not so fast. What about the Healer?”  **

** Van Eck looked baffled. “Who?”  **

** “You said you gave the drug to a Grisha from each Order. Mikka’s a Tidemaker – he’s your Etherealnik. The Fabrikator who mocked up that gold was a Materialnik. So what happened to the Corporalnik? The Healer?”  **

** Van Eck winced slightly, but simply said, “Will you accompany me, Mister Brekker?”  **

** Warily, keeping one eye on Mikka and the guards, Kaz followed Van Eck out of the library and down the hall. The house dripped mercher wealth – walls panelled in dark wood, floors tiled in clean black and white, all in good taste, all perfectly restrained and impeccably crafted. But it had the feel of a graveyard. The rooms were deserted, the curtains drawn, the furniture covered in white sheets so that each shadowy chamber they passed looked like some kind of forgotten seascape cluttered with icebergs.  **

** Hoede. Now the name clicked into place. There’d been some kind of incident at Hoede’s mansion on the Geldstraat last week. The whole place had been cordoned off and crawling with stadwatch. Kaz had heard rumours of a firepox outbreak, but even Inej hadn’t been able to learn more.  **

"So there's the other answer to our mystery" Kaz ginned at Inej who just smiled

** “This is Councilman Hoede’s house,” Kaz said, skin crawling. He wanted no part of a plague, but the merch and his guards didn’t seem remotely concerned. “I thought this place was under quarantine.”  **

** “What happened here is no danger to us. And if you do your job, Mister Brekker, it never will be.”  **

** Van Eck led him through a door and into a manicured garden, thick with the new nectar scent of early crocuses. The smell hit Kaz like a blow to the jaw. Memories of Jordie were already too fresh in his mind, and for a moment, Kaz wasn’t walking through the canal-side garden of a rich merch, he was knee-deep in spring grasses, hot sun beating down on his cheeks, his brother’s voice calling him home. **

"You had a brother?!" They all asked mouth gaping 

"Had" answered Kaz coldly 

No one dared to ask anything they would learn soon enough.

** Kaz gave himself a shake. I need a mug of the darkest, bitterest coffee I can find, he thought. Or maybe a real punch to the jaw.  **

** Van Eck was leading him to a boathouse that faced the canal. The light filtering out between its shuttered windows cast patterns on the garden path. A single city guard stood at attention beside the door as Van Eck slid a key from his pocket and into the heavy lock. Kaz put his sleeve up to his mouth as the stink from the closed-up room reached him – urine, excrement. So much for spring crocuses. The room was lit by two glass lanterns on the wall. A group of guards stood facing a large iron box, shattered glass littering the floor at their feet. Some wore the purple uniform of the stadwatch, others the sea green livery of the Hoede house. Through what Kaz now understood had been an observation window, he saw another city guard standing in front of an empty table and two overturned chairs. Like the others, the guard stood with his arms loose at his sides, face blank, eyes forwards, gazing at nothing. Van Eck turned up the light on one of the lanterns, and Kaz saw a body in a purple uniform slumped on the floor, eyes closed.  **

** Van Eck sighed and crouched down to turn the body over. “We’ve lost another,” he said.  **

** The boy was young, the bare scraps of a moustache on his upper lip. Van Eck gave orders to the guard who had let them in, and with help from one of Van Eck’s retinue they lifted the corpse and took it from the room. The other guards didn’t react, just continued to stare ahead.  **

** Kaz recognised one of them – Henrik Dahlman, the captain of the stadwatch.  **

** “Dahlman?” he queried, but the man made no response. Kaz waved a hand in front of the captain’s face, then gave him a hard flick on the ear. Nothing but a slow, disinterested blink. Kaz raised his pistol and aimed it directly at the captain’s forehead. He cocked the hammer. The captain didn’t flinch, didn’t react. His pupils didn’t contract.  **

** “He’s as good as dead,” said Van Eck. “Shoot. Blow his brains out. He won’t protest and the others won’t react.”  **

** Kaz lowered his weapon, a chill settling deep into his bones. “What is this? What happened to them?”  **

** “The Grisha was a Corporalnik serving her indenture with Councilman Hoede’s household. He thought because she was a Healer and not a Heartrender, he was making the safe choice to test the parem.”  **

** Seemed smart enough. Kaz had seen Heartrenders at work. They could rupture your cells, burst your heart in your chest, steal the breath from your lungs, or lower your pulse so that you dropped into a coma, all while never laying a finger on you. If even part of what Van Eck said was true, the idea of one of them dosed with jurda parem was a daunting proposition. So the merchers had tried the drug on a Healer instead. But apparently things hadn’t gone according to plan.  **

** “You gave her the drug, and she killed her master?”  **

** “Not exactly,” Van Eck said, clearing his throat. “They had her in that observation cell. Within seconds of consuming the parem, she took control of the guard inside the chamber—”  **

** “How?”  **

** “We don’t know exactly. But whatever method she used, it allowed her to subdue these guards as well.”  **

** “That’s not possible.”  **

** “Isn’t it? The brain is just one more organ, a cluster of cells and impulses. Why shouldn’t a Grisha under the influence of jurda parem be able to manipulate those impulses?”  **

** Kaz’s disbelief must have shown. “Look at these people,” Van Eck insisted. “She told them to wait. And that’s exactly what they’ve done – that’s all they’ve done since.”  **

** Kaz studied the silent group more closely. Their eyes weren’t blank or dead, their bodies weren’t quite at rest. They were expectant. He suppressed a shiver. He’d seen peculiar things, extraordinary things, but nothing like what he’d witnessed tonight.  **

** “What happened to Hoede?”  **

** “She commanded him to open the door, and when he did, she ordered him to cut the thumb from his hand. We only know how it all happened because a kitchen boy was present. The Grisha girl left him untouched, but he claims Hoede carved away his own thumb, smiling all the while.”  **

** Kaz didn’t like the idea of some Grisha moving things around in his head. But he wouldn’t be surprised if Hoede deserved whatever he’d got. During Ravka’s civil war, a lot of Grisha had fled the fighting and paid their way to Kerch by becoming indentures without realising that they’d essentially sold themselves into slavery. **

"Trust me," said Nina "No one wants to know what's on your head"

Jesper and Inej gave a small laugh 

** “The merch is dead?”  **

** “Councilman Hoede lost a great deal of blood, but he’s in the same state as these men. He’s been removed to the country with his family and the staff from his house.”  **

** “Did the Grisha Healer go back to Ravka?” Kaz asked.  **

** Van Eck gestured Kaz out of the eerie boathouse and locked the door behind them.  **

** “She may have attempted it,” he said as they retraced their steps through the garden and along the side of the house. “We know she secured a small craft, and we suspect she was headed to Ravka, but we found her body washed up two days ago near Third Harbour. We think she drowned trying to get back into the city.”  **

** “Why would she come back here?”  **

** “For more jurda parem.”  **

** Kaz thought of Mikka’s glittering eyes and waxy skin. “It’s that addictive?”  **

** “It seems to take only one dose. Once the drug has run its course, it leaves the Grisha’s body weakened and the craving is intense. It’s quite debilitating.” **

** Quite debilitating seemed like a bit of an understatement. The Council of Tides controlled entry to the Ketterdam harbours. If the drugged Healer had tried to return at night in a small boat, she wouldn’t have had much of a chance against the current. Kaz thought of Mikka’s gaunt face, the way his clothes hung from his body. The drug had done that to him. He’d been high on jurda parem and already greedy for the next dose. He’d also looked ready to keel over. How long could a Grisha go on that way?  **

** It was an interesting question, but not relevant to the matter at hand. They’d arrived at the front gate. It was time to settle up. “Thirty million kruge,” Kaz said.  **

** “We said twenty!” sputtered Van Eck.  **

** “You said twenty. It’s clear you’re desperate.” Kaz glanced back in the direction of the boathouse, where a room full of men simply waited to die. “And now I see why.”  **

** “The Council will have my head.”  **

** “They’ll sing your praises once you have Bo Yul-Bayur safely hidden away wherever you intend to keep him." **

"One dose is all it takes to become addicted?" Nina said still processing.

** “Novyi Zem.” Kaz shrugged.  **

** “You can put him in a coffeepot for all I care.”  **

** Van Eck’s gaze locked on his. “You’ve seen what this drug can do. I assure you it is just the beginning. If jurda parem is unleashed on the world, war is inevitable. Our trade lines will be destroyed, and our markets will collapse. Kerch will not survive it. Our hopes rest with you, Mister Brekker. If you fail, all the world will suffer for it.”  **

** “Oh, it’s worse than that, Van Eck. If I fail, I don’t get paid.”  **

** The look of disgust on the merch’s face was something that deserved its own DeKappel oil to commemorate it.  **

** “Don’t look so disappointed. Just think how miserable you would have been to discover this canal rat had a patriotic streak. You might actually have had to uncurl that lip and treat me with something closer to respect.”  **

** “Thank you for sparing me that discomfort,” Van Eck said disdainfully. He opened the door, then paused. “I do wonder what a boy of your intelligence might have amounted to under different circumstances.”  **

** Ask Jordie, Kaz thought with a bitter pang. But he simply shrugged. “I’d just be stealing from a better class of sucker. Thirty million kruge.”  **

** Van Eck nodded. “Thirty. The deal is the deal.”  **

** “The deal is the deal,” Kaz said.  **

"I just sign us to our deaths, didn't I? He wasn't exactly thrilled with this idea or plan and he still couldn't figure out why he chose these people, except for Inej. 

** They shook. As Van Eck’s neatly manicured hand clasped Kaz’s leather-clad fingers, the merch narrowed his eyes.  **

** “Why do you wear the gloves, Mister Brekker?”  **

** Kaz raised a brow. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.”  **

** “Each more grotesque than the last.”  **

** Kaz had heard them, too. Brekker’s hands were stained with blood. Brekker’s hands were covered in scars. Brekker had claws and not fingers because he was part demon. Brekker’s touch burned like brimstone – a single brush of his bare skin caused your flesh to wither and die.  **

** “Pick one,” Kaz said as he vanished into the night, thoughts already turning to thirty million kruge and the crew he’d need to help him get it. “They’re all true enough." **

"So that's how the chapter ends" 

"What were you thinking?" a frustrated Inej said "Money like that is more of a curse than a gift"

"Inej, you don't have to come if you don't want to. But think of all the possibilities you could do with money like that if we pull it off" Kaz said. 

"Shall we resume?"


	5. Part 1 : Shadow Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4: Inej

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO.
> 
> I know I said I was going to post one chapter per week but school is really weird and I have a lot of free time. Besides I want to finish it before Shadow and Bone comes out, I won't be able to think after seeing it.
> 
> I love reading your comments, you guys make my days better.

"Chapter 4: Inej" 

"Oh no, not me again!"

"Sorry Wraith," joked Jesper.

"At least we'll know if our suspicions are correct," said Nina looking at Jesper who grinned from ear to ear. 

"About what?" asked Inej baffled 

"Oh nothing, nothing" replied Jesper looking between Inej and Kaz

"Well... should we start? said Kaz not completely following the conversation. 

** Inej knew the moment Kaz entered the Slat. His presence reverberated through the cramped rooms and crooked hallways as every thug, thief, dealer, conman, and steerer came a little more awake. Per Haskell’s favoured lieutenant was home.  **

** The Slat wasn’t much, just another house in the worst part of the Barrel, three storeys stacked tight on top of each other, crowned with an attic and a gabled roof. Most of the buildings in this part of the city had been built without foundations, many on swampy land where the canals were haphazardly dug. They leaned against each other like tipsy friends gathered at a bar, tilting at drowsy angles. Inej had visited plenty of them on errands for the Dregs, and they weren’t much better on the inside – cold and damp, plaster sliding from the walls, gaps in the windows wide enough to let in the rain and snow. Kaz had spent his own money to have the Slat’s drafts shorn up and its walls insulated. It was ugly, crooked, and crowded, but the Slat was gloriously dry.  **

** Inej’s room was on the third floor, a skinny slice of space barely big enough for a cot and a trunk, but with a window that looked out over the peaked roofs and jumbled chimneys of the Barrel. When the wind came through and cleared away the haze of coal smoke that hung over the city, she could even make out a blue pocket of harbour. **

** Though dawn was just a few hours away, the Slat was wide awake. The only time the house was ever really quiet was in the slow hours of the afternoon, and tonight everyone was buzzing with the news of the showdown at the Exchange, Big Bolliger’s fate, and now poor Rojakke’s dismissal.  **

** Inej had gone straight from her conversation with Kaz to seek out the card dealer at the Crow Club. He’d been at the tables dealing Three Man Bramble for Jesper and a couple of Ravkan tourists. When he’d finished the hand, Inej had suggested they speak in one of the private gaming parlours to spare him the embarrassment of being fired in front of his friends, but Rojakke wasn’t having it.  **

** “It’s not fair,” he’d bellowed when she’d told him Kaz’s orders. “I ain’t no cheat!”  **

** “Take it up with Kaz,” Inej had replied quietly.  **

** “And keep your voice down,” Jesper added, glancing at the tourists and sailors seated at the neighbouring tables. Fights were common in the Barrel, but not on the floor of the Crow Club. If you had a gripe, you settled it outside, where you didn’t risk interrupting the hallowed practice of separating pigeons from their money.  **

** “Where’s Brekker?” growled Rojakke.  **

** “I don’t know.”  **

** “You always know everything about everything,” Rojakke sneered, leaning in, the stink of lager and onions on his breath. “Isn’t that what Dirtyhands pays you for?”  **

** “I don’t know where he is or when he’s getting back. But I do know you won’t want to be here when he does.”  **

** “Give me my cheque. I’m owed for my last shift.”  **

** “Brekker doesn’t owe you anything.”  **

** “He can’t even face me? Sends a little girl to give me the boot? Maybe I’ll just shake a few coins out of you.” He’d reached to grab her by the collar of her shirt, but she’d dodged him easily. He fumbled for her again.  **

** Out of the corner of her eye, Inej saw Jesper rise from his seat, but she waved him off and slipped her fingers into the brass knuckles she kept in her right hip pocket. She gave Rojakke a swift crack across the left cheek. His hand flew up to his face. “Hey,” he said. “I didn’t hurt you none. It was just words.” **

"I would've done the same thing," Said Nina reassuring Inej of her actions. 

** People were watching now, so she hit him again. Regardless of the Crow Club rules, this took precedence. When Kaz had brought her to the Slat, he’d warned her that he wouldn’t be able to watch out for her, that she’d have to fend for herself, and she had. It would have been easy enough to turn away when they called her names or sidled up to ask for a cuddle, but do that and soon it was a hand up your blouse or a try at you against a wall. So she’d let no insult or innuendo slide. She’d always struck first and struck hard. Sometimes she even cut them up a bit. It was fatiguing, but nothing was sacred to the Kerch except trade, so she’d gone out of her way to make the risk much higher than the reward when it came to disrespecting her. Rojakke touched his fingers to the ugly bruise forming on his cheek, looking surprised and a bit betrayed. “I thought we was friendly,” he protested.  **

** The sad part was that they were. Inej liked Rojakke. But right now, he was just a frightened man looking to feel bigger than someone. “Rojakke,” she’d said. “I’ve seen you work a deck of cards. You can get a job in almost any den. Go home and be grateful Kaz doesn’t take what you owe him out of your hide, hmmm?”  **

** He’d gone, a bit wobbly on his feet, still clutching his cheek like a stunned toddler, and Jesper had sauntered over.  **

** “He’s right, you know. Kaz shouldn’t send you to do his dirty work.” **

"It's all dirty work."

"I wouldn't send her if I knew she could handle herself," Said Kaz and Inej at the same time, she smiled at him.

** “It’s all dirty work.”  **

** “But we do it just the same,” he said with a sigh.  **

** “You look exhausted. Will you sleep at all tonight?”  **

** Jesper just winked. “Not while the cards are hot. Stay and play a bit. Kaz will stake you.”  **

** “Really, Jesper?” she’d said, pulling up her hood. “If I want to watch men dig holes to fall into, I’ll find myself a cemetery.”  **

They all laughed at Inej's joked, and Jesper put a hand on his chest pretending to be hurt.

** “Come on, Inej,” he’d called after her as she passed through the big double doors onto the street. “You’re good luck!”  **

** Saints, she’d thought, if he believes that, he really must be desperate. She’d left her luck behind in a Suli camp on the shores of West Ravka. She doubted she’d see either again.  **

** Now Inej left her tiny chamber in the Slat and headed downstairs by way of the banisters. There was no reason to cloak her movements here, but silence was a habit, and the stairs tended to squeak like mating mice. When she reached the second floor landing and saw the crowd milling below, she hung back.  **

** Kaz had been gone longer than anyone had expected, and as soon as he’d entered the shadowy foyer, he’d been waylaid by people looking to congratulate him on his routing of Geels and asking for news of the Black Tips.  **

** “Rumour has it Geels is already putting together a mob to move on us,” said Anika.  **

** “Let him!” rumbled Dirix. “I’ve got an axe handle with his name on it.” “Geels won’t act for a while,” said Kaz as he moved down the hall. “He doesn’t have the numbers to face us in the streets, and his coffers are too empty to hire on more hands. Shouldn’t you be on your way to the Crow Club?”  **

** The raised eyebrow was enough to send Anika scurrying away, Dirix on her heels. Others came to offer congratulations or make threats against the Black Tips. No one went so far as to pat Kaz on the back, though – that was a good way to lose a hand.  **

** Inej knew Kaz would stop to speak to Per Haskell, so instead of descending the final flight of stairs, she moved down the hallway. There was a closet here, full of odds and ends, old chairs with broken backs, paint-spattered canvas sheeting. Inej moved aside a bucket full of cleaning supplies that she’d placed there precisely because she knew no one in the Slat would ever touch it. The grate beneath it offered a perfect view of Per Haskell’s office. She felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping on Kaz, but he was the one who had turned her into a spy. You couldn’t train a falcon, then expect it not to hunt.  **

** Through the grate she heard Kaz’s knock on Per Haskell’s door and the sound of his greeting.  **

** “Back and still breathing?” the old man inquired. She could just see him seated in his favourite chair, fiddling with a model ship he’d been building for the better part of a year, a pint of lager within arm’s reach, as always.  **

** “We won’t have a problem with Fifth Harbour again.”  **

** Haskell grunted and returned to his model ship. “Close the door.” **

** Inej heard it shut, muffling the sounds from the hallway. She could see the top of Kaz’s head. His dark hair was damp. It must have started raining.  **

** “You should have asked permission from me to deal with Bolliger,” said Haskell.  **

** “If I had talked to you first, word might have got out—”  **

** “You think I’d let that happen?” Kaz’s shoulders lifted.  **

** “This place is like anything in Ketterdam. It leaks.” Inej could have sworn he looked directly at the vent when he said it.  **

** “I don’t like it, boy. Big Bolliger was my soldier, not yours.”  **

** “Of course,” Kaz said, but they both knew it was a lie. Haskell’s Dregs were old guard, conmen and crooks from another time. Bolliger had been one of Kaz’s crew – new blood, young and unafraid. Maybe too unafraid.  **

** “You’re smart, Brekker, but you need to learn patience.”  **

** “Yes, sir.”  **

** The old man barked a laugh. “Yes, sir. No, sir,” he mocked. “I know you’re up to something when you start getting polite. Just what have you got brewing?”  **

** “A job,” Kaz said. “I may need to be gone for a spell.”  **

** “Big money?”  **

** “Very.”  **

** “Big risk?”  **

** “That, too. But you’ll get your twenty per cent.”  **

** “You don’t make any major moves without my say-so, understood?”  **

** Kaz must have nodded because Per Haskell leaned back in his chair and took a sip of lager. “Are we to be very rich?”  **

** “Rich as Saints in crowns of gold.”  **

** The old man snorted. “Long as I don’t have to live like one.”  **

** “I’ll talk to Pim,” Kaz said. “He can pick up the slack while I’m gone.”  **

** Inej frowned. Just where was Kaz going? He hadn’t mentioned any big job to her. And why Pim? The thought shamed her a bit. She could almost hear her father’s voice: So eager to be Queen of the Thieves, Inej? It was one thing to do her job and do it well. It was quite another to want to succeed at it. She didn’t want a permanent place with the Dregs. She wanted to pay off her debts and be free of Ketterdam forever, so why should she care if Kaz chose Pim to run the gang in his absence? Because I’m smarter than Pim. Because Kaz trusts me more. **

"Someone's jealous" cooed Nina and Jesper 

Inej cheeks went pink but didn't say anything

** But maybe he didn’t trust the crew to follow a girl like her, only two years out of the brothels, not even seventeen years old. She wore her sleeves long and the sheath of her knife mostly hid the scar on the inside of her left forearm where the Menagerie tattoo had once been, but they all knew it was there.  **

** Kaz exited Haskell’s room, and Inej left her perch to wait for him as he limped his way up the stairs.  **

** “Rojakke?” he asked as he passed her and started up the second flight.  **

** “Gone,” she said, falling in behind him.  **

** “He put up much of a fight?”  **

** “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”  **

** “Not what I asked.”  **

** “He was angry. He may come back around looking for trouble.” “Never a shortage of that to hand out,” Kaz said as they reached the top floor. The attic rooms had been converted into his office and bedroom. She knew all those flights of stairs were brutal on his bad leg, but he seemed to like having the whole floor to himself.  **

** He entered the office and without looking back at her said, “Shut the door.”  **

"Uuuh" Nina and Jesper wolf whistle. making Wylan laugh and the faces both Kaz and Inej had was for a portrait.

**The room was mostly taken up by a makeshift desk – an old warehouse door atop stacked fruit crates – piled high with papers. Some of the floor bosses had started using adding machines, clanking things crowded with stiff brass buttons and spools of paper, but Kaz did the Crow Club tallies in his head. He kept books, but only for the sake of the old man and so that he had something to point to when he called someone out for cheating or when he was looking for new investors.**

**That was one of the big changes Kaz had brought to the gang. He’d given ordinary shopkeepers and legitimate businessmen the chance to buy shares in the Crow Club. At first they’d been skeptical, sure it was some kind of swindle, but he’d brought them in with tiny stakes and managed to gather enough capital to purchase the dilapidated old building, spruce it up, and get it running. It had paid back big for those early investors. Or so the story went. Inej could never be sure which stories about Kaz were true and which were rumors he’d planted to serve his own ends.**

"It's true, I'm a businessman," said Kaz 

Although, no one believed the businessman persona.

** For all she knew, he’d conned some poor honest trader out of his life savings to make the Crow Club thrive.  **

** “I’ve got a job for you,” Kaz said as he flipped through the previous day’s figures. Each sheet would go into his memory with barely a glance. “What would you say to four million kruge?”  **

** “Money like that is more curse than gift.”  **

** “My little Suli idealist. All you need is a full belly and an open road?” he said, the mockery clear in his voice.  **

** “And an easy heart, Kaz.” That was the difficult part.  **

** Now he laughed outright as he walked through the door to his tiny bedroom. “No hopes of that. I’d rather have the cash. Do you want the money or not?”  **

** “You’re not in the business of giving gifts. What’s the job?”  **

** “An impossible job, near certain death, terrible odds, but should we scrape it …” He paused, fingers on the buttons of his waistcoat, his look distant, almost dreamy. It was rare that she heard such excitement in his raspy voice.  **

** “Should we scrape it?” she prompted. He grinned at her, his smile sudden and jarring as a thunderclap, his eyes the near-black of bitter coffee. “We’ll be kings and queens, Inej. Kings and queens.” “Hmm,” she said noncommittally, pretending to examine one of her knives, determined to ignore that grin.  **

** Kaz was not a giddy boy smiling and making future plans with her.  **

Nina squealed and Jesper laughed, it was like they were having a secret conversation between them. 

** He was a dangerous player who was always working an angle. Always, she reminded herself firmly. Inej kept her eyes averted, shuffling a stack of papers into a pile on the desk as Kaz stripped out of his vest and shirt.  **

"Wow, that escalated quickly," said Nina laughing, Jesper was also laughing almost felt of the chair. And now the rest of them caught in the conversation. 

"I always knew there was something between you two," Jesper said pointing at the couple referenced. 

"There's nothing between us," they both said immediately

but the way they looked at each other gave the wrong impression. 

** She wasn’t sure if she was flattered or insulted that he didn’t seem to give a second thought to her presence. “How long will we be gone?” she asked, darting a glance at him through the open doorway. He was corded muscle, scars, but only two tattoos – the Dregs’ crow and cup on his forearm and above it, a black R on his bicep. She’d never asked him what it meant.  **

** It was his hands that drew her attention as he shucked off his leather gloves and dipped a cloth in the wash basin. He only ever removed them in these chambers, and as far as she knew, only in front of her. Whatever affliction he might be hiding, she could see no sign of it, only slender lockpick’s fingers, and a shiny rope of scar tissue from some long ago street fight.  **

** “A few weeks, maybe a month,” he said as he ran the wet cloth under his arms and the hard planes of his chest, water trickling down his torso.  **

** For Saints’ sake, Inej thought as her cheeks heated.  **

The same thing happened now. It was weird for Kaz to read himself through Inej's eyes, he thought she was adorable right now. Meanwhile, the Heartrender and the sharpshooter were cheering like they won something. It was definitely bizarre for Kaz as he looked around the room, Wylan was smiling but didn't say anything and Matthias was always so stern and rigid but he did seem to enjoy looking at Nina once in a while, he knew their story enough to use it as an advantage.

** She’d lost most of her modesty during her time with the Menagerie, but really, there were limits. What would Kaz say if she suddenly stripped down and started washing herself in front of him?  **

"Umm..." Where the only audible thing that came out of Kaz's mouth. He was now blushed and looked at Inej who wouldn't meet his eyes as she was sunken in her chair. 

** He’d probably tell me not to drip on the desk, she thought with a scowl.  **

They all laughed at Inej's comment even her. Kaz didn't say anything but he knew that if that ever happened he wouldn't even be able to speak. He knew that when they'll eventually talk about the way they felt for each other but for now he didn't give it much thought.

** “A month?” she said. “Are you sure you should be leaving with the Black Tips so riled up?”  **

** “This is the right gamble. Speaking of which, round up Jesper and Muzzen. I want them here by dawn. And I’ll need Wylan waiting at the Crow Club tomorrow night.”  **

** “Wylan? If this is for a big job—”  **

** “Just do it.” Inej crossed her arms. One minute he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder.  **

They were all laughing except for Kaz who just looked amused 

He saw the look Wylan gave him, he was confused but he knew that Kaz would reveal it very soon. 

** “Are you going to explain any of this?”  **

** “When we all meet.” He shrugged on a fresh shirt, then hesitated as he fastened the collar. “This isn’t an assignment, Inej. It’s a job for you to take or leave as you see fit.”  **

** An alarm bell rang inside her. She endangered herself every day on the streets of the Barrel. She’d murdered for the Dregs, stolen, brought down bad men and good, and Kaz had never hinted that any of the assignments were less than a command to be obeyed. This was the price she’d agreed to when Per Haskell had purchased her contract and liberated her from the Menagerie. So what was different about this job? Kaz finished with his buttons, pulled on a charcoal waistcoat, and tossed her something. It flashed in the air, and she caught it with one hand. When she opened her fist, she saw a massive ruby tie pin circled by golden laurel leaves.  **

Wylan was now giddy "I can't believe you stoled it" 

The rest were disoriented but they were still smiling.

** “Fence it,” Kaz said.  **

** “Whose is it?”  **

** “Ours now.”  **

** “Whose was it?” **

** Kaz stayed quiet. He picked up his coat, using a brush to clean the dried mud from it. “Someone who should have thought better before he had me jumped.”  **

** “Jumped?”  **

** “You heard me.”  **

** “Someone got the drop on you?” He looked at her and nodded once. Unease snaked through her and twisted into an anxious, rustling coil. No one got the better of Kaz. He was the toughest, scariest thing walking the alleys of the Barrel. She relied on it. So did he.  **

** “It won’t happen again,” he promised. Kaz pulled on a clean pair of gloves, snapped up his walking stick, and headed out the door. “I’ll be back in a few hours. Move the DeKappel we lifted from Van Eck’s house to the vault. I think it’s rolled up under my bed. Oh, and put in an order for a new hat.”  **

** “Please.”  **

** Kaz heaved a sigh as he braced himself for three painful flights of stairs. He looked over his shoulder and said,  **

** “Please, my darling Inej, treasure of my heart, won’t you do me the honour of acquiring me a new hat?” **

Inej scoffed 

"treasure of my heart, really?" said Jesper mockingly 

Kaz just rolled his eyes

** Inej cast a meaningful glance at his cane. “Have a long trip down,” she said, then leaped onto the banister, sliding from one flight to the next, slick as butter in a pan. **

Laughter erupted from the room 

"So that's the end of the chapter," said Kaz unenthusiastic. His eyes after reading were directly on Inej who just shrugged. He wished he could tell her he felt something for her but the point was probably moot since he knew he could never be with her like she wanted. 

"Let's continue"


	6. Part 1 : Shadow Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5: Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO.
> 
> Now that said, it has come to my attention that I have been copying the text of the chapters word for word and it may be offending her entire work. I do not want to stop writing this fic because it has been so much fun so I decided to only show the context of the situation in which the characters comment. But I do encourage that if you have not read the book buy it or listen to it because it's phenomenal. And this fic will only be for those who read the book and understand the context,  
> Either way, I love you guys and I love reading your comments <3

**Please read the author's note at the beginning of the chapter.**

“Chapter 5: Kaz” Not again he thought

**Only one other gambling den on the Stave mattered to him: the Emerald Palace, Pekka Rollins’ pride and joy. The building was an ugly green, decked out in artificial trees laden with fake gold and silver coins. The whole place had been done up as some kind of tribute to Rollins’ Kaelish heritage and his gang, the Dime Lions.**   
**Even the girls working the chip counters and tables wore glittering green sheaths of silk and had their hair tinted a dark, unnatural red to mimic the look of girls from the Wandering Isle. As Kaz passed the Emerald, he looked up at the false gold coins, letting the anger come at him. He needed it tonight as a reminder of what he’d lost, of what he stood to gain. He needed it to prepare him for this reckless endeavour.**   
**“Brick by brick,” he muttered to himself. They were the only words that kept his rage in check, that prevented him from striding through the Emerald’s garish gold-and-green doors, demanding a private audience with Rollins, and slitting his throat. Brick by brick. It was the promise that let him sleep at night, that drove him every day, that kept Jordie’s ghost at bay. Because a quick death was too good for Pekka Rollins.**

“He was the one who-” Inej whispered but didn’t need to finish because Kaz nodded  
Kaz didn’t want their pity but the room reak of pity.

**Despite the lies he’d spread and the claims he’d made to Geels tonight, Kaz wasn’t a bastard. He wasn’t even from Ketterdam. He’d been nine and Jordie thirteen when they’d first arrived in the city, a cheque from the sale of their father’s farm sewn safely into the inner pocket of Jordie’s old coat. Kaz could see himself as he was then, walking the Stave with dazzled eyes, hand tucked into Jordie’s so he wouldn’t be swept away by the crowd. He hated the boys they’d been, two stupid pigeons waiting to be plucked. But those boys were long gone, and only Pekka Rollins was left to punish.**

That revelation seemed to shock everyone since the myth was more present than the actual truth.

**Kaz remembered when Inej had first seen the jackal masks in a shop window. She hadn’t been able to contain her contempt. “Real Suli fortunetellers are rare. They’re holy men and women. These masks that are handed around like party favours are sacred symbols.”**   
**“I’ve seen Suli tellers ply their trade in caravans and pleasure ships, Inej. They didn’t seem so very holy.”**   
**“They are pretenders. Making themselves clowns for you and your ilk.”**   
**“My ilk?” Kaz had laughed.**   
**She’d waved her hand in disgust. “Shevrati,” she’d said. “Knownothings. They’re laughing at you behind those masks.”**   
**“Not at me, Inej. I’d never lay down good coin to be told my future by anyone – fraud or holy man.”**   
**“Fate has plans for us all, Kaz.”**   
**“Was it fate that took you from your family and stuck you in a pleasure house in Ketterdam? Or was it just very bad luck?”**   
**“I’m not sure yet,” she’d said coldly. In moments like that, he thought she might hate him.**

“You’re so infuriating sometimes, you know?” said Inej. Kaz smirked he loved seeing her frown

Jesper and Nina looked at each other and wolf whistle trying to rile them up and it worked

**Kaz wove his way through the crowd, a shadow in a riot of colour. Each of the major pleasure houses had a speciality, some more obvious than others. He passed the Blue Iris, the Bandycat, bearded men glowering from the windows of the Forge, the Obscura, the Willow Switch, the dewy-eyed blondes at the House of Snow, and of course the Menagerie, also known as the House of Exotics, where Inej had been forced to don fake Suli silks. He spotted Tante Heleen in her peacock feathers and famous diamond choker holding court in the gilded parlour. She ran the Menagerie, procured the girls, made sure they behaved. When she saw Kaz, her lips thinned to a sour line, and she lifted her glass, the gesture more threat than toast. He ignored her and pressed on.**

“Careful, you’re going to break that,” said Kaz looking at inej holding a pencil which she was about to break

**The House of the White Rose was one of the more luxurious establishments on West Stave. It had its own dock, and its gleaming white stone façade looked less like a pleasure house than a mercher mansion. Its window boxes were always bursting with climbing white roses, and their scent clung dense and sweet over this portion of the canal.**   
**The parlour was even stickier with perfume. Huge alabaster vases overflowed with more white roses, and men and women – some masked or veiled, some with faces bare – waited on ivory couches, sipping nearcolourless wine and nibbling little vanilla cakes soaked in almond liqueur.**   
**The boy at the desk was dressed in a creamy velvet suit, a white rose in his buttonhole. He had white hair and eyes the colour of boiled eggs. Barring the eyes, he looked like an albino, but Kaz happened to know that he’d been tailored to match the decor of the House by a certain Grisha on the payroll.**   
**“Mister Brekker,” the boy said, “Nina is with a client.”**

That made Matthias’s ears perked up “You stayed here?” in his Fjerdan accent  
“Of course I did, I was trying to get you out”  
“Don't lie to me, witch”  
“It's true, it was a mistake. I didn't mean to do it”  
“Have you ever said anything true?”  
“I am saying the truth” Nina said but Matthias wasn't listening

**A little bald man was seated fully clothed at a round table draped in ivory baize, his hands neatly folded beside an untouched silver coffee tray. Nina Zenik stood behind him, swathed in the red silk kefta that advertised her status as a Grisha Heartrender, one palm pressed to his forehead, the other to the back of his neck. She was tall and built like the figurehead of a ship carved by a generous hand. They were silent, as if they’d been frozen there at the table. There wasn’t even a bed in the room, just a narrow settee where Nina curled up every night. When Kaz had asked Nina why, she’d simply said, “I don’t want anyone getting ideas.”**   
**“A man doesn’t need a bed to get ideas, Nina.”**   
**Nina fluttered her lashes. “What would you know about it, Kaz? Take those gloves off, and we’ll see what ideas come to mind.”**

“Wow just wow,” said Inej. Jesper was laughing with Nina, Kaz looked somewhat amused. But Matthias felt a little jealous.

**Kaz had kept his cool eyes on her until she’d dropped her gaze. He wasn’t interested in flirting with Nina Zenik, and he happened to know she wasn’t remotely interested in him.**

“Nope not even close” was all she said

**Nina just liked to flirt with everything. He’d once seen her make eyes at a pair of shoes she fancied in a shop window.**

The room burst into laughter even Matthias smiled, Nina just lifted her shoulders and said “Those shoes were amazing”

**Nina and the bald man sat, unspeaking, as the minutes ticked by, and when the hour on the clock chimed, he rose and kissed her hand.**   
**“Go,” she said in solemn tones. “Be at peace.”**   
**The bald man kissed her hand again, tears in his eyes. “Thank you.”**   
**As soon as the client was down the hall, Kaz stepped out of the bedroom and knocked on Nina’s door. She opened it cautiously, keeping the chain latched. “Oh,” she said when she saw Kaz. “You.”**

All around the room they were smirking on their faces. They could imagine Nina’s tone of unpleasantness.

 **She didn’t look particularly happy to see him. No surprise. Kaz Brekker at your door was rarely a good thing. She unhooked the chain and let him show himself in as she shucked off the red kefta, revealing a slip of satin so thin it barely counted as cloth.**  
 **“Saints, I hate this thing,” she said, kicking the kefta away and pulling a threadbare dressing gown from a drawer.**  
 **“What’s wrong with it?” Kaz asked.**  
 **“It isn’t made right. And it itches.”**  
 **Nina threw herself into a chair at the table and wriggled her feet out of her jewelled slippers, digging her toes into the plush white carpet. “Ahhh,” she said contentedly. “So much better.” She shoved one of the cakes from the coffee service into her mouth and mumbled, “What do you want, Kaz?”**  
 **“You have crumbs on your cleavage.”**  
 **“Don’t care,” she said, taking another bite of cake. “So hung** ry.”

They all laughed and Nina smiled sheepishly

“ **Tell me,” she said.**  
 **Kaz talked. He held back on the specifics of Van Eck’s proposal, but he told her about Bo Yul-Bayur, jurda parem, and the addictive properties of the drug, placing particular emphasis on the recent theft of Ravkan military documents.**  
 **“If this is all true, then Bo Yul-Bayur needs to be eliminated.”**

“I agree with myself” said Nina defensively  
Matthias also agree which surprised Nina.

**“That is not the job, Nina.”**   
**“This isn’t about money, Kaz.”**

“It's always about money” said Kaz grimly

**“Nina, we’re going to retrieve Bo Yul-Bayur, and I need a Corporalnik to do it. I want you on my crew.”**   
**“Wherever he’s hiding out, once you find him, letting him live would be the most outrageous kind of irresponsibility. My answer is no.”**   
**“He isn’t hiding out. The Fjerdans have him at the Ice Court.”**   
**Nina paused. “Then he’s as good as dead.”**   
**“The Merchant Council doesn’t think so. They wouldn’t be going to this trouble or offering up this kind of reward if they thought he’d been neutralised. Van Eck was worried. I could see it.”**   
**“The mercher you spoke to?”**   
**“Yes. He claims their intelligence is good. If it’s not, well, I’ll take the hit. But if Bo Yul-Bayur is alive, someone is going to try to break him out of the Ice Court. Why shouldn’t it be us?”**   
**“The Ice Court,” Nina repeated, and Kaz knew she’d begun to put the pieces together. “You don’t just need a Corporalnik, do you?”**   
**“No. I need someone who knows the Court inside and out.”**

“So now you’ll do it! I’ve come for you begging you but now because of this you’ll do it.” Said Nina furiously  
“Do what?” Asked Wylan and Jesper  
Matthias couldn't believe his ears, she begged for his freedom, he didn't say anything but he looked at Nina.

**She leaped to her feet and began pacing, hands on hips, dressing gown flapping. “You’re a little skiv, you know that? How many times have I come to you, begging you to help Matthias? And now that you want something …”**

“Ahhh” said both Jesper and Wyland and then turned their heads towards the couple mentioned and understanding what's happening.

**“Per Haskell isn’t running a charity.”**   
**“Don’t put this on the old man,” she snapped. “If you’d wanted to help me, you know you could have.”**   
**“And why would I do that?”**   
**She whirled on him. “Because … because …”**   
**“When have I ever done something for nothing, Nina?”**   
**She opened her mouth, closed it again.**   
**“Do you know how many favours I would have had to call in? How many bribes I’d have had to pay out to get Matthias Helvar out of prison? The price was too high.”**   
**“And now?” she managed, her eyes still blazing anger.**   
**“Now, Helvar’s freedom is worth something.”**   
**“It—”**   
**He held up a hand to cut her off. “Worth something to me.”**

Matthias wanted to punch Kaz, but he did wonder about Nina and why she would want to free him if she was the one that put him there.

**Nina pressed her fingers to her temples. “Even if you could get to him, Matthias would never agree to help you.”**   
**“It’s just a question of leverage, Nina.”**   
**“You don’t know him.”**   
**“Don’t I? He’s a person like any other, driven by greed and pride and pain. You should understand that better than anyone.”**   
**“Helvar is driven by honour and only honour. You can’t bribe or bully that.”**   
**“That may have been true once, Nina, but it’s been a very long year. Helvar is much changed.”**   
**“You’ve seen him?” Her green eyes were wide, eager.**   
**There, thought Kaz, the Barrel hasn’t beaten the hope out of you yet.**

**“I have.”**   
**Nina took a deep, shuddering breath. “He wants his revenge, Kaz.”**   
**“That’s what he wants, not what he needs,” said Kaz. “Leverage is all about knowing the difference.”**

“That's how the chapter ends,” said Kaz

“Tell me the truth, if we could go back would you’ve changed it,” Matthias said

“No,” said Nina

“Then why-” Matthias said angrily but Nina interrupted him.

“Let me finish. There were Grisha spy's in Ellis and they recognized us both, it was the only way that I could think of to get us out of there. It was a mistake that I've been trying to pay since that day I did everything to get you out but they wouldn't believe me.”

It took some time to process everything for Matthias but finally he gave in and stretched an arm trying to reach her. Nina looked like she was about to burst out crying but she lunged herself to hug Matthias.

They were now smiling and it didn't take too much time to get their chairs together. The rest of the group was watching them like a match and they were clueless but neither one of them wanted to interrupt them. Kaz knew to some extent what happened but it really seemed to bother him.

Kaz fake cough to make them focused again and said

“Let's continue”


	7. Part 1 : Shadow Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6: Nina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Fun fact: I love Helnik but my sister doesn't like them. I mean were are both Kanej shippers :)  
> Since the chapters are going to be shorter I might be able to write two a day. 
> 
> I love you guys thank you for the support and comments

"Chapter 6: Nina" Kaz hide his surprise very well

"Wait...what?!" Nina said as if she didn't hear him, she was beside Matthias who just smiled and shrugged. 

"I'm sorry in advance," she said.

** Where are we going?” Nina whispered. Kaz didn’t answer. The wind picked up, lifting her veil and lashing her cheeks with salt spray.  **

** As they entered the second tower, a figure emerged from the shadows, and Nina barely stifled a scream.  **

** “Inej,” she said on a wavering breath. The Suli girl wore the horns and high-necked tunic of the Grey Imp, but Nina recognized her anyway. No one else moved liked that, as if the world were smoke and she was just passing through it.  **

** “How did you even get here?” Nina whispered to her.  **

** “I came earlier on a supply barge.” Nina ground her teeth.  **

** “Do people just come and go from Hellgate for fun?” **

They all laughed at the interaction and Nina's comment.

** Nina averted her eyes, unable to watch. “What is this?”  **

** “Welcome to the Hellshow,” said Kaz.  **

** “Pekka Rollins got the idea a few years back and pitched it to the right Council member.”  **

** “The Merchant Council knows?”  **

** “Of course they know, Nina. There’s money to be made here.”  **

** Nina dug her fingernails into her palms. That condescending tone made Kaz so slappable.  **

"Saints! that's disturbing on so many levels" said Jesper. Wylan agreed with him, he had a hand covering up his mouth. 

"That's horrible," said Nina almost as if she was protesting.

** “What can you tell me about Per Haskell?” Nina had asked that night. “Not much,” Inej had admitted. “He’s no better or worse than most of the bosses in the Barrel.”  **

** “And Kaz Brekker?”  **

** “A liar, a thief, and utterly without conscience. But he’ll keep to any deal you strike with him.” **

Jesper laughed at Inej presenting Kaz. 

Kaz didn't bat an eye at her comment, it was true.

** “You may still die in the Dregs.” **

** Inej’s dark eyes had glinted. “I may. But I’ll die on my feet with a knife in my hand.” **

Damn right thought Kaz. 

** “Helvar doesn’t … Helvar doesn’t fight in the arena, does he?”  **

** “We aren’t here for the ambiance,” Kaz said.  **

** Beyond slappable. “Are you aware that I could waggle my fingers and make you wet your trousers?” **

** “Easy, Heartrender. I like these trousers. And if you start messing with my vital organs, Matthias Helvar will never see sunshine again.”  **

A round of laughter rang through the room, at Kaz's sarcastic nature and Nina's threats.

** “Nina—” Inej murmured.  **

** “Don’t you start on me.”  **

** “It will all work out. Let Kaz do what he does best.”  **

** “He’s horrible.”  **

** “But effective. Being angry at Kaz for being ruthless is like being angry at a stove for being hot. You know what he is.”  **

** Nina crossed her arms. “I’m mad at you, too.”  **

** “Me? Why?”  **

** “I don’t know yet. I just am.” **

The laughter continued but Nina smirked.

** Nina remembered the first time she’d seen Matthias in a moonlit Kaelish wood. His beauty had seemed unfair to her. In another life, she might have believed he was coming to rescue her, a shining savior with golden hair and eyes the pale blue of northern glaciers. But she’d known the truth of him by the language he spoke, and by the disgust on his face every time his eyes lighted on her. **

"Wow, just wow," Said Jesper. 

"What? it is true, I mean look at him" Nina said defensively but as she turns her head to look at Matthias he was al blushing and blustered. 

** Tick tick tick tick. Snakes. Tiger. Bear. Boar. The wheel ticked merrily along, then slowed and finally stopped.  **

** “No,” Nina said when she saw where the needle was pointing.  **

** “It could be worse,” said Muzzen. “Could have landed on the desert lizard again.”  **

** She grabbed Kaz’s arm through his cloak and felt his muscles tense. “You have to stop this.”  **

** “Let go of me, Nina.” His gravel-rough voice was low, but she sensed real menace in it.  **

** She dropped her hand, “Please, you don’t understand. He—”  **

** “If he survives, I’ll take Matthias Helvar out of this place tonight, but this part is up to him.”  **

** Nina gave a frustrated shake of her head. “You don’t get it.” **

"Bad call grabbing his arms" murmured Jesper

"Oh no! I think I know what it landed on," Said Nina grabbing Matthias's hand trying to comfort him. She knew by the look in his eyes he knew what was going to happen.

"What's so important?-" said Wylan but he was cut off by Nina saying "You'll see". 

** “Need your escort?” the guard asked as they approached.  **

** “I had a question,” said Kaz. Beneath her cape, Nina lifted her hands, sensing the flow of blood in the guard’s veins, the tissue of his lungs. “About your mother and whether the rumours are true.” **

** Nina felt the guard’s pulse leap and sighed. “Never can make it easy, can you, Kaz?" **

Jesper bursts of laughter and Kaz smiled proudly at his joke.

"C'mon" That was all Nina said.

** Even in sleep, Matthias’ features were troubled, his pale brows furrowed. She let her hands travel over the bruised line of his jaw, resisting the urge to linger there.  **

** “Not the face, Nina. I need him mobile, not pretty. Heal him fast and only enough to get him walking for now. I don’t want him spry enough to vex us.”  **

"Ha ha ha ha" Nina mocked with laughter. She was still holding Matthias's hand, she couldn't believe what they just read and felt extremely guilty.

** His eyes opened, groggily, palest blue. “Nina,” he said softly. His knuckles brushed her cheek; his rough hand cupped her face tentatively, disbelievingly. “Nina?”  **

** Her eyes filled with tears. “Shhhh, Matthias. We’re here to get you out.”  **

** Before she could blink he had hold of her shoulders and had pinned her to the ground.  **

** “Nina,” he growled.  **

** Then his hands closed over her throat. **

"Wow that took a dark turn," Said Jesper 

"I'm so sorry," said Matthias

"It's all right, you didn't know then. And besides, if it was the other way around I would have done the same thing" Nina said reassuring him that she wasn't mad or felt bad.

Inej and Kaz looked at the couple longingly, they didn't look at each other but they didn't even need to. 

"Let's continue"


	8. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 7: Matthias

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO 
> 
> As I said before, now that the chapters are shorter might be able to write more.   
> Question: Would you like it if Kaz and Inej got together while reading or not at all? Cause I would love for them to spit it out but I like to stay true to the books. What about you?

"Chapter 7: Matthias" Kaz knew this was going to be good, seeing what's really going on in his head after being betrayed. 

** Matthias was dreaming again. Dreaming of her **

Jesper cooed and made Inej laughed, Matthias went red all over his face and Nina said "Aww that's sweet"

"It isn't," he said "I'm sorry for my thoughts" he continued. Nina looked perplexed but shrugged and gesture to Kaz to keep reading. 

** In the green light from the orbs carried by Kaz and the bronze girl, he spotted a tiny boat moored up ahead. It looked like a guard was seated in it, but he raised a hand and waved them forward.  **

** “You were early, Jesper,” Kaz said as he nudged Matthias towards the boat.  **

** “I was on time.”  **

** “For you, that’s early. Next time you plan to impress me give me some warning.”  **

** “The animals are out, and I found you a boat. This is when a thank you would be in order.”  **

** “Thank you, Jesper,” said Nina.  **

** “You’re very welcome, gorgeous. See, Kaz? That’s how the civilised folk do.”  **

"Wow that was a rollercoaster of emotions right there," Said Jesper trying to lighten the mood, "I mean if you didn't know any better instead of fighting you were going to tear each other's clothes off"

Inej laughed loudly and made Kaz smiled, Wylan also laughed. Matthias looked like he was melting into the floor and Nina smiled broadly. She wanted to kiss him so badly but not in front of everybody. 

** “And what will this valuable information cost me?”  **

** “I don’t want your money. I’ll give you the plans for nothing.” It shamed Matthias to say the words, but he spoke them anyway. “If you let me kill Nina Zenik.”  **

** The little bronze girl made a sound of disgust, her contempt for him clear, and the boy at the table stopped doodling, his mouth falling open. Kaz, however, didn’t seem surprised. If anything, he looked pleased. Matthias had the uncomfortable sense that the demon had known exactly how this would play out.  **

** “I can give you something better,” said Kaz. What could be better than revenge?  **

** “There’s nothing else I want.”  **

** “I can make you a drüskelle again.”  **

** “Are you a magician, then? A wej sprite who grants wishes? I’m superstitious, not stupid.” **

"Well you are kind of stupid", said Nina. She was annoyed but she understood where that feeling came from.

"I'm so sorry," said Matthias but she waved it off.

"I'm guessing you know something we don't," said Inej looking at Kaz, and for once he looked surprised. 

** Matthias nodded, and the bronze girl took a knife to the ropes binding him. “I believe you know Nina,” Brekker continued. “The lovely girl freeing you is Inej, our thief of secrets and the best in the trade. Jesper Fahey is our sharpshooter, Zemeni-born but try not to hold it against him, and this is Wylan, best demolitions expert in the Barrel.”  **

** “Raske is better,” Inej said. The boy looked up, ruddy gold hair flopping in his eyes, and spoke for the first time.  **

** “He’s not better. He’s reckless.”  **

** “He knows his trade.”  **

** “So do I.”  **

** “Barely,” Jesper said.  **

** “Wylan is new to the scene,” admitted Brekker.  **

** “Of course he’s new, he looks like he’s about twelve,” retorted Matthias.  **

They all laughed, even Kaz. Wylan cheeks went pink but protested "I'm sixteen"

** “I’m sixteen,” said Wylan sullenly.  **

** Matthias doubted that. Fifteen at the most. The boy didn’t even look as if he’d started shaving. In fact, at eighteen, Matthias suspected that he wasthe oldest of the bunch. Brekker’s eyes were ancient, but he couldn’t be any older than Matthias. For the first time, Matthias really looked at the people around him. What kind of team is this for a mission so perilous? Treason wouldn’t be an issue if they were all dead. And only he knew exactly how treacherous this endeavour might prove.  **

** “We should be using Raske,” Jesper said. “He’s good under pressure.”  **

** “I don’t like it,” agreed Inej.  **

** “I didn’t ask,” said Kaz. “Besides, Wylan isn’t just good with the flint and fuss. He’s our insurance.”  **

** “Against what?” asked Nina.  **

** “Meet Wylan Van Eck,” said Kaz Brekker as the boy’s cheeks flooded crimson. “Jan Van Eck’s son and our guarantee on thirty million kruge.” **

"WHAT?" They all said 

"Of course you are the mercher's son," said Jesper 

"You knew?" said Wylan sullenly

"He always has a reason," said Inej she hid her amazement very well 

"Well you just got a whole lot interesting," said Nina

"Don't think just because he's my father I'm leverage" he said 

Before anyone could continue he said "If it isn't said in the book I'll tell you"

And with that, they continued. 


	9. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 8: Jesper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Hi guys, sorry I haven't been posting I'll try to post as many chapters as I can between today and tomorrow.  
> Love you and thank you for the support.

"Chapter 8: Jesper" 

"Finally, I was wondering if you were going to hear from me," he said grinning 

"Unfortunately," said Nina mockingly. And Jesper stuck his tongue out like a child.

** Jesper stared at Wylan. “Of course you’re a Councilman’s kid.” He burst out laughing. “That explains everything.” **

"It does," said the sharpshooter still laughing and looking at Wylan's red face.

** “And since Wylan has seen the Ice Court with his very own eyes,” Kaz continued, “he can help keep you honest, Helvar.”  **

** The Fjerdan scowled furiously, and Wylan looked a little ill.  **

** “Don’t worry,” Nina said. “The glower isn’t lethal.”  **

They laughed at Nina's comment but Matthias still didn't like the idea of breaking into the Ice Court. And although he was now on good terms with Nina he feared he would do something reckless in that book. 

** “You guys are going to make this really fun, aren’t you?” asked Jesper. “Usually people don’t start hating each other until a week into the job, but you two have a head start.”  **

Inej laughed and shook her head. Wylan smiled but Jesper said, "If we end up doing it, it's going to be the complete opposite you won't be able to get your hands off each other." Matthias blushed but Nina just smirked and winked. 

** “Scheming face,” Jesper whispered to Inej.  **

** She nodded. “Definitely.” **

"I don't have a scheming face," said Kaz surprised

"Of course you don't," said Inej smiling at him. 

** Kaz leaned back. “What’s the easiest way to steal a man’s wallet?” “Knife to the throat?” asked Inej.  **

** “Gun to the back?” said Jesper.  **

** “Poison in his cup?” suggested Nina.  **

** “You’re all horrible,” said Matthias.  **

"We know that, but hey!" said Jesper 

while the rest just chuckled softly.

** “I speak Fjerdan,” Wylan protested.  **

** “Schoolroom Fjerdan, right? I bet you speak Fjerdan about as well as I speak moose.”  **

** “Moose is probably your native tongue,” mumbled Wylan. **

"Nice comeback," Said Jesper sarcastically looking at a very blushed Wylan.

** Inej traced her finger over the rough sketch Wylan had produced, a series of embedded circles.  **

** “It really does look like the rings of a tree,” she said.  **

** “No,” said Kaz. “It looks like a target.” **

"That's how the chapter ends."

"I still can believe we are going and already have a plan," said Inej 

Nina agreed " I Just wanna know if we actually succeed." 

"We will eventually know, for now, we continue reading."


	10. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9: Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> So, I've been thinking after this fic would you want me to do one for Crooked Kingdom? Because I've been thinking of doing one about Star Wars but tell me what you think.  
> Love you guys and thank you for all the support

Ps: A very short chapter

"Chapter 9: Kaz" 

** “We’re done here,” Kaz told the others. “I’ll send word to each of you after I find us a ship, but be ready to sail by tomorrow night.”  **

"So soon?" said Inej 

"You must really what to get it over with?" said Nina 

Kaz ignored Nina and said "The weather could get worse"

** “You’re unlucky enough to be in my line of sight, and I don’t want any sudden reconciliations between father and son before we set sail.”  **

Wylan laughed bitterly "Like that is ever going to happen." 

The rest looked at him like he had a third eye

** “Go on, Wraith,” he said. “Shut the door behind you.” **

"You could have more manners you know?" said Nina furiously for her friend. "And you," pointing at Matthias, "Don't try anything stupid with  _ him. _ " 

Matthias knew who she meant so he just lifted his arms surrendering. 

** Demjin,” muttered Helvar. Kaz didn’t speak Fjerdan, but that word he knew. Demon.  **

** Hardly **

"Arrogant much?" said Nina

Jesper looked at Inej to see her reaction and whatever he thought it was not that, She looked at Kaz almost longingly. He wondered how such a good person could feel something for that. Only the book might say.

"Shall we resume?" 


	11. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10: Inej

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Sorry if some chapters are short, for obvious reasons I don't put everything but I'll try to put more context in the scene and well, still write their reactions.   
> Love you guys and thanks for the support.

"Chapter 10: Inej"

"Oh, goodie! more embarrassing myself" said Inej grabbing her head with her hands. Nina rubbed a hand behind her back for support.

"It can't be that bad," said Jesper trying to cheer her up.

** His confidence unnerved her. “What makes you think we can do this? There will be other teams out there, trained soldiers and spies, people with years of experience....”  **

** “I need your skills, Inej. That’s not the same thing. You may be the best spider crawling around the Barrel, but you’re not the only one. You’d do well to remember it if you want to keep your share of the haul.” **

"You're an asshole," said Nina "If I wasn't so afraid to get near you I would beat you up," She said angrily. Inej moved her chair closer to Nina's, she was hurt by that statement but deep down she knew that's all he saw of her. Kaz saw the look on her face and instantly regretted it he wanted to say he was sorry but he knew that it wouldn't be enough.

** That would mean walking out on her debt to the Dregs. Per Haskell would blame Kaz; he’d be forced to carry the price of her indenture, and she’d be leaving him vulnerable without his Wraith to gather secrets. But hadn’t he told her that she was easily replaced? If they managed to pull off this heist and return to Kerch with Bo Yul-Bayur safely in tow, her percentage of the haul would be more than enough to buy her way out of her contract with the Dregs. She’d owe Kaz nothing, and there would be no reason for her to stay. **

"You're irreplaceable Inej, I'm sorry for what I said I don't mean it," said Kaz looking right into her eyes looking for forgiveness, she looked at him straight into his eyes and nodded understanding.

** "There was a Suli saying:  _ The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.  _ Her father had liked to recite this when she was training on the wire or the swings." **

** " ** That's lovely," said Nina comforting her friend who looked like she was about to cry remembering her family.

** "That felt like a hundred years ago. Her father had been wrong. There had been no boys to bring her flowers, only men with stacks of kruge and purses full of coin. Would she ever see her father again? Hear her mother singing, listen to her uncle’s silly stories? I’m not sure I have a heart to give any more, Papa. " **

"That's certainly not true. You are one of the most caring people I know, and no matter what happened to you. You are brave, strong and your past doesn't define you," said Nina hugging Inej.

Jesper hugged her too, Kaz wished he could tell her how much he means to him but he would never be good for her.

** "Just this minute, I’ll settle for an apology, she decided. And I won’t board the boat without one. Even if Kaz isn’t sorry, he can pretend. He at least owes me his best imitation of a human being." **

"I hope you do for your sake" huffed Nina

** Inej forced herself to look at the Menagerie as she passed. It’s just a place, she told herself. Just another house... “Hello, little lynx." **

The look of panic that went through Inej's face designated in the room. No one could really understand what she had been through and no one could say anything to comfort her because they knew that no matter how much they could support this was something she had to do by herself.

** “I know what you are, lynx. I know what you’re worth down to the cent. Cobbet, maybe we should take her home now.”  **

** Black crowded into Inej’s vision. “You wouldn’t dare. The Dregs—”  **

** “I can bide my time, little lynx. You’ll wear my silks again, I promise.” **

"Like hell, she would," said Kaz coldly, he realized he said it out loud and looked at a smiling Inej.

Jesper and Nina looked at each other they would never understand that relationship. 

** "Inej broke into a jog, heading for the loading docks at Fifth Harbour. She was very late – she wasn’t looking forward to Kaz’s disapproving frown when she made it to the pier... She looked down. In the dim glow of the harbour gaslights, she saw Dirix, one of the Dregs who’d been meant to make the journey with them. There was a knife in his abdomen, and his eyes were glassy.“Kaz!” she shouted. But it was too late. The schooner exploded, knocking Inej off her feet and showering the docks in flame." **

"That's the end of the chapter"

"Great start to the trip," said Jesper sarcastically. 

"We were ambushed," said Matthias "Who knew we were going to sail?" 

No one dared to say anything, there was a concern for Inej but they'll have to wait to see what was going to happen next.

"Let's continue" 


	12. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11: Jesper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO 
> 
> This may be the last chapter for today, I'll try to write tomorrow as much as I can   
> Thank you for the love and support I love you guys<3

"Chapter 11: Jesper" 

"Yes! me again," said a smiling Jesper

"Only you," smiled Inej

** "Jesper always felt better when people were shooting at him." **

"Really?" asked Wylan 

"Yeah, well... I don't know how to answer that," 

** "Kaz had warned them to anticipate competition... They were surrounded, at least one man down, a burning ship at their backs. They’d lost their transportation to Fjerda, and if the shots raining down on them were any indication, they were seriously outnumbered. He supposed it could have been worse; they could have been on the boat when it exploded."  **

"It was probably a decoy," said Kaz 

"I hope so," said Jesper

** Jesper crouched down to reload and couldn’t quite believe the sight that met his eyes. Wylan Van Eck was actually curled up on the dock, his soft mercher’s hands thrown over his head. Jesper heaved a sigh, lay down a few shots for cover, and lunged out from behind the sweet security of his crate. He seized Wylan by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back to shelter.  **

** Jesper gave him a little shake. “Pull it together, kid.”  **

** “Not a kid,” Wylan mumbled, batting Jesper’s hands away.  **

** “Fine, you’re an elder statesman. Do you know how to shoot?”  **

** Wylan nodded slowly. “Skeet.”  **

** Jesper rolled his eyes. He snagged the rifle from his back and shoved it into Wylan’s chest. “Great. This is just like shooting clay pigeons, but they make a different sound when you hit one.” **

They all laughed at their interaction.

"I really need to teach you how to fight merchling," said Jesper

Wylan just looked at him, he wondered how much his life has changed in these months.

** “Head east to the next dock, board at berth twenty-two,” Kaz said. “What’s at berth twenty-two?”  **

** “The real Ferolind.”  **

** “But—”  **

** “The boat that blew was a decoy.”  **

** “You knew?”  **

** “No, I took precautions. It’s what I do, Jesper.”  **

"You could have told us" he protested 

"That would defeat the purposed" Kaz replied 

Jesper just huffed but didn't argue 

** Helvar was beside her with his back to the crate, his hands bound. A reasonable precaution, but the Fjerdan was valuable, and Jesper had a moment to wonder why Kaz had left him in such straits before he saw Nina produce a knife from her sleeve and slash through Helvar’s bonds. She slapped a pistol into his hands. “Defend yourself,” she said with a growl, and then returned her focus to the fight.  **

** Not smart, Jesper thought. Do not turn your back on an angry Fjerdan. Helvar looked like he was seriously considering shooting her. Jesper lifted his revolver, prepared to bring the giant down. Then Helvar was standing next to Nina, aiming into the maze of crates beyond. Just like that, they were fighting side by side. Had Kaz left Matthias bound with Nina deliberately? Jesper could never tell how much of what Kaz got away with was smarts and planning and how much was dumb luck. **

They were waiting for Kaz to answer but he just smiled and said "A magician never reveals his secrets. Besides those two," pointing at Nina and Matthias," no matter how badly they hide it by anger they can't keep off of each other"

Matthias blushed and Nina just shrugged "True enough," said considering it.

** “Jesper!”  **

** The shout came from far below, and it took a moment for Jesper to realize it was Wylan calling to him. He tried to ignore him, taking aim again.  **

** “Jesper!”  **

** I’m going to kill that little idiot. “What do you want?” he shouted down.  **

** “Close your eyes!”  **

** “You can’t kiss me from down there, Wylan.” **

"I wasn't- I don't think-" stuttered a very red Wylan, his face was the same color as his face.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crows were laughing at the situation

"Don't worry gorgeous, they'll be time for that later" winked Jesper

Wyland just looked at him still red as a tomato.

** “Just do it!”  **

** “This better be good!” He shut his eyes.  **

** “Are they closed?”  **

** “Damn it, Wylan, yes, they’re—”  **

** There was a shrill, shrieking howl, and then bright light bloomed behind Jesper’s lids. When it faded, he opened his eyes.  **

** Below, he saw men blundering around, rendered blind by the flash bomb Wylan had set off. But Jesper could see perfectly. Not bad for a mercher’s kid, he thought to himself, and opened fire. **

"That's how the chapter ends"

"Luckily I told you to close your eyes," said Wylan irritated. 

"I'm not good at following orders" joked Jesper. 

Before Wylan said anything Kaz spoke

"If you'll stop bickering like an old married couple we can continue."


	13. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12: Inej

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Hi guys, I'll try to write as many chapters as I possibly can.
> 
> Thank you for the love and support. I love you <3

"Chapter 12: Inej" 

"Again!" she protested, almost pouting 

Jesper had to laugh at that response.

** Inej spared Kaz and the others a single glance, then did what she did best – she vanished. She launched herself up the cargo crates, scaling them like a nimble insect, her rubber-soled feet finding grips and footholds. **

** She wiped her knives on her leather breeches and returned them to their sheaths, then backed up and took a running start at the nearest cargo container. As her fingers gripped the rim, she felt a piercing pain beneath her arm. She turned in time to see Oomen’s ugly face split in a determined grimace. All the intelligence she had gathered on the Black Tips came back to her in a sickening rush – Oomen, Geels’ shambling enforcer, the one who could crush skulls with his bare hands. **

"This is not good," said Nina worried 

"I'll be fine," said Inej looking at all of the concerned faces in the room. No one believed her but they did their best to hide it out.

** “Do you know the secret to fighting a scorpion?”  **

** He laughed. “Talking nonsense, Wraith? Don’t die too quick. Need to get you patched up.”  **

** She crossed one ankle behind the other and heard a reassuring click. She wore the pads at her knees for crawling and climbing, but there was another reason, too – namely, the tiny steel blades hidden in each of them. “The secret,” she panted, “is to never take your eyes off the scorpion’s tail.” She brought her knee up, jamming the blade between Oomen’s legs.  **

** He shrieked and released her, hands going to his bleeding groin. **

The boys in the room grimaced and made a hurt noise while Nina laughed and Inej smirked.

** She willed her mind to clarity and hopped up, fingertips latching onto the top of the crate. Climb, Inej. She dragged herself over the edge onto the tin roof of the container... Move, she told herself. This is a stupid place to die.  **

"You are not dying, you hear me?" said Nina hugging her.

** May the Saints receive me. She pressed the tip beneath her breast, between her ribs, an arrow to her heart. Then a hand gripped her wrist painfully, forcing her to drop the blade.  **

** “Not just yet, Inej.”  **

** The rasp of stone on stone. Her eyes flew open. Kaz.  **

** He bundled her into his arms and leaped down from the crates, landing roughly his bad leg buckling.  **

** " ** I would like to say thank the saints but I'm not sure if this applies to this case," said Nina mockingly

"The not so shining armor, to come to rescue you" Jesper laughed 

Inej ignored them and just said "Thank you" and Kaz nodded.

** “I don’t want to die.”  **

** “I’ll do my best to make other arrangements for you.” **

** She closed her eyes.  **

** “Keep talking, Wraith. Don’t slip away from me.”  **

** “But it’s what I do best.”  **

** He clutched her tighter. “Just make it to the schooner. Open your damn eyes, Inej.” **

They could all feel the tension in the room but no one dared to say anything to them.

** He never visited Heleen’s girls, though plenty would have been happy to take him up to their rooms. They claimed he gave them the shivers, that his hands were permanently stained with blood beneath those black gloves, but she’d recognized the eagerness in their voices and the way they tracked him with their eyes.  **

"Someone's a ladies man" joked Jesper

"Well, this is awkward," said Nina 

The rest of the room ignored them. Although Kaz felt weird about that comment. 

** One night, as he’d passed her in the parlour, she’d done a foolish thing, a reckless thing. “I can help you,” she’d whispered. He’d glanced at her, then proceeded on his way as if she’d said nothing at all. The next morning, she’d been called to Tante Heleen’s parlour. She’d been sure another beating was coming or worse, but instead, Kaz Brekker had been standing there, leaning on his crow-head cane, waiting to change her life.  **

"I can't believe that was your first encounter," said Nina smiling

"Yeah well... it's not the best but at least it's something," said Inej trying to come up with an answer. 

** “You came back for me.”  **

** “I protect my investments.”  **

** Investments. “I’m glad I’m bleeding all over your shirt.”  **

** “I’ll put it on your tab.”  **

** Now she remembered. He owed her an apology. “Say you’re sorry.” “For what?”  **

** “Just say it.”  **

** She didn’t hear his reply. The world had grown very dark indeed. **

"That's how the chapter ends"

"You're such an idiot, you know I can make you have a heart attack," said Nina.

"Easy there Zenik, I value my life," said Kaz and then looked at Inej and said, "I'm sorry and thank you for saving us."

Kaz didn't want to say she was a friend because it would be a lie so he just simply avoided saying them. No one else said anything but they were hoping and praying for Inej's recovery.


	14. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 13: Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO 
> 
> Thank you for the love and support, love you guys.

"Chapter 13: Kaz" 

"This is going to be disturbing, isn't it?" said Jesper 

** “Get us out of here,” Kaz shouted as soon as he limped aboard the schooner with Inej in his arms {...} “Move,”  **

** Kaz demanded, and Wylan practically leaped from the table.  **

** “I’m not finished—” began Nina. Then she caught sight of Inej. “Saints,” she swore. “What happened?”  **

** “Knife wound.” **

"I'm not a healer but I'll try my best I promised," said Nina looking at Inej

She smiled and said, "I know you will do it wonderfully." 

** Say you’re sorry. That was the last thing Inej had said to him. What had she wanted him to apologize for? There were so many possibilities. **

"The fact that you don't know concerns me," said Nina

"Now I do," said Kaz dismissively.

** On deck, he took a deep breath of sea air, watching the harbour and Ketterdam fade from view on the horizon {...} Helvar was bent over the railing, vomiting. Not a sailor, apparently.  **

"Don't like boats, bad memories" said Matthias grumpily. The rest were laughing at the image in their brains.

** “Let’s ask.” Kaz limped over to where Rotty had helped him stash Oomen {...} He thought of Inej lying still on the table, her slight weight in his arms {...} He made a neat slash across Oomen’s eye – from brow to cheekbone – and before Oomen could draw breath to cry out, he made a second cut in the opposite direction, a nearly perfect X. Now Oomen was screaming.  **

** Kaz wiped the knife clean, returned it to his sleeve, and drove his gloved fingers into Oomen’s eye socket. He shrieked and twitched as Kaz yanked out his eyeball, its base trailing a bloody root. Blood gushed over his face. **

They all looked at him gawking they couldn't believe he would do something like that.

"You're not even sorry, aren't you?" said Matthias 

"No," said Kaz straight to the point

Inej couldn't believe he would do something like that because she was unconscious. She never understood how far their relationship would go, she wasn't surprised by his actions but she was intrigued by his intentions. 

Wylan and Nina both grimaced at what Kaz could do if someone got in his way.

** Pekka Rollins,” Oomen sobbed. “It was Pekka Rollins!”  **

** Even through his own shock, Kaz registered the effect of the name on Jesper and Wylan. Helvar didn’t know enough to be intimidated. “Saints,” groaned Jesper. “We are so screwed.”  **

** “Is Rollins leading the crew himself?” Kaz asked Oomen.  **

** “What crew?”  **

** “To Fjerda.”  **

** “I don’t know about no crew. We were just supposed to stop you from getting out of the harbour.”  **

** “I see.”  **

** “I need a medik. Can you take me to a medik now?” “Of course,” said Kaz. “Right this way.” He took Oomen by the lapels and hoisted him off his feet, bracing his body against the railing.  **

** “I told you what you wanted!” Oomen screamed, struggling. “I did what you asked!”  **

** Despite Oomen’s knobby build, he was deceptively strong – farm strong like Jesper. He’d probably grown up in the fields.  **

** Kaz leaned in so that no one else could hear it when he said, “My Wraith would counsel mercy. But thanks to you, she’s not here to plead your case.” Without another word, he tipped Oomen into the sea.  **

"We are so screwed if Pekka Rollings is in it," said Jesper

"I can believe you just did that" murmured Wylan 

"Kaz," said Inej softly but she knew she shouldn't plead but killing him was wrong. Kaz looked at her to see her face of disapproval but when he looked at her she just looked confused. She wondered how long they would have to pretend that they didn't like each other.

** In the dim confines of his cabin, Kaz whispered the words “Brick by brick.” Killing Pekka Rollins had always been tempting, but that wasn’t enough. Kaz wanted Rollins brought low. He wanted him to suffer the way Kaz had, the way Jordie had. And snatching thirty million kruge right out of Pekka Rollins’ grubby hands was a very good way to start. Maybe Inej was right. Maybe fate did bother with people like him. **

"That's how it ends"

"That was eventful," said Nina mockingly 

"You do revenge in a whole another level," said Jesper 

Kaz still looked at her expecting some kind of response but she was still looking at him not knowing what truly moved him every day.

"Let's continue"


	15. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 14: Nina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONG TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Thank you for all the love and support. Love you guys <3

"Chapter 14: Nina" 

"I just hope I can heal you," Nina worriedly said to Inej.

"Don't worry you will do it amazingly." 

** In the cramped little surgeon’s cabin, Nina tried to put Inej’s body back together, but she hadn’t been trained for this type of work {...} Inej had been with the Dregs longer than Nina and yet no tattoo. Strange. She was one of the most valued members of the gang, and it was clear Kaz trusted her – as much as someone like Kaz could. Nina thought of the look on his face when he’d set Inej down on the table. He was the same Kaz – cold, rude, impossible – but beneath all that anger, she thought she’d seen something else, too. Or maybe she was just a romantic. **

"Both things are true, a hopeless romantic and I read into things," she said unapologetically. 

"Nina," warned Inej

"Ugh fine, I'll get the truth eventually"

** She had to laugh at herself. She wouldn’t wish love on anyone. It was the guest you welcomed and then couldn’t be rid of.  **

"Now, who broke your heart?" asked Jesper 

"Do I even have to answer?" she said. But she still intertwined her hand with Matthias's. 

** “You were right, Zoya. Happy now?”  **

** “Giddy,” said Jesper from the doorway.  **

** Nina started and looked up to see him rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Who’s Zoya?” he asked {...} Nina cast him a dark glance. “The drüskelle won’t let them be. They hunt Grisha everywhere.”  **

** “Are they all charmers like Matthias?”  **

** “And worse.” **

"Well not now," said Jesper looking between Nina and Matthias. 

"Yeah well, I wouldn't be too sure," Nina said while she was touching her hair uncomfortably.

** "What are you doing out here?” he asked in Fjerdan.  **

** She feigned confusion. “I’m sorry,” she said in Kaelish. “I don’t understand. I’m lost.”  **

** He lunged towards her. She didn’t stop to think, but simply reacted, raising her hands to attack. He was too quick. Without hesitation, he dropped the lantern and seized her wrists, slamming her hands together, making it impossible for her to use her power.  **

** “Drüsje,” he said with satisfaction. Witch. He had a wolf’s smile. **

"What was it that you said," Inej responded while rubbing her fingers on her chin pretending to think. "I can't believe that was your first encounter,"

"And I believe you said, Yeah well... it's not the best but at least it's something," Said Nina and both started laughing 

** Occasionally the ship would drop anchor, and the drüskelle would return with another captive {...} “Water. Please.”  **

** He vanished into the passage. She heard him climb the ladder, and the hatch closed with a loud bang. “Don’t waste your breath on him,” the Fabrikator counselled. “He will show you no kindness.”  **

** But a short while later the drüskelle returned with a tin cup and a bucket of clean water. He’d set it down inside the cell and slammed the bars shut without a word. Nina helped the Fabrikator drink, then gulped down a cup herself. Her hands were shaking so badly, half of it sloshed down her blouse. The Fjerdan turned away, and with pleasure, Nina saw she’d embarrassed him.  **

** “I’d kill for a bath,” she taunted. “You could wash me.”  **

** “Don’t talk to me,” he growled, already stalking towards the door. He hadn’t returned, and they’d gone without fresh water for the next three days. But when the storm hit, that tin cup had saved her life.  **

Inej and Jesper almost fell off their chairs laughing so hard at Nina's comment and Matthias's face right now. He simply shook his head, he didn't like to remember that time.

** Nina’s chin dipped, and she jerked awake. Had she nodded off? {...} “Hje marden, Matthias?” she asked.  **

** “Don’t,” he said.  **

** “You’d prefer I spoke Kerch?”  **

** “I don’t want to hear my language from your mouth.” His eyes flicked to her lips, and she felt an unwelcome flush. **

"Wow! I never thought I would see Nina blush," said Jesper

Nina just laughed. "There's a first time for everything"

** “That pardon is a dream that’s hard to hold on to. The memory of your pulse fading beneath my fingers is far easier to bring to mind.” “Try me,” she said, her anger flaring. She was sick of his threats. “My hands aren’t pinned now, Helvar.” She curled her fingertips, and Matthias gasped as his heart began to race.  **

** “Witch,” he spat, clutching his chest.  **

** “Surely you can do better than that. You must have a hundred names for me by now.”  **

** “A thousand,” he grunted as sweat broke out on his brow.  **

** She relaxed her fingers, feeling suddenly embarrassed. What was she doing? Punishing him? Toying with him? He had every right to hate her. **

"I'm so sorry Matthias, for everything,"

"It's okay I know the reason why you did it" 

** “You know the White Rose?” {...} “You chose to work there?”  **

** “Chose is a bit of a stretch, but yes.”  **

** “Why? Why would you remain in Kerch?”  **

** She rubbed her eyes. “I couldn’t leave you in Hellgate.”  **

** “You put me in Hellgate.”  **

** “It was a mistake, Matthias.”  **

** Rage ignited in his eyes, the calm veneer dropping away. “A mistake? I saved your life, and you accused me of being a slaver.”  **

** “Yes,” Nina said. “And I’ve spent most of this last year trying to find a way to set things right.”  **

** “Has a true word ever left your lips?” **

** She sagged back wearily in her chair. “I’ve never lied to you. I never will.” **

"The tension you guys! just kiss already" joked Jesper. Inej laughed loudly making Kaz smile. Matthias whole face went red and Nina said "Shut it, Fahey,"

** “Did you think of me at all, Nina? Did I trouble your sleep?”  **

** She shrugged. “A Corporalnik can sleep whenever she likes.” Though she couldn’t control her dreams.  **

** “Sleep is a luxury at Hellgate. It’s a danger. But when I slept, I dreamed of you.”  **

** Her head snapped up.  **

** “That’s right,” he said. “Every time I closed my eyes.”  **

** “What happened in the dreams?” she asked, eager for an answer, but fearing it, too.  **

** “Horrible things. The worst kinds of torture. You drowned me slowly. You burned my heart from my chest. You blinded me.”  **

** “I was a monster.”  **

** “A monster, a maiden, a sylph of the ice. You kissed me, whispered stories in my ear. You sang to me and held me as I slept. Your laugh chased me into waking.”  **

** “You always hated my laugh.”  **

** “I loved your laugh, Nina. And your fierce warrior’s heart. I might have loved you, too.” **

Kaz, Inej, Jesper, and Wylan couldn't say anything, It felt like they were interrupting a private affair. 

Nina couldn't believe what she had heard, he loved her just like she loved him. She was overjoyed but at the same time, she was disappointed because it was her fault he felt the resentment and ravage. Matthias agreed with what the book said, even now he still loves her. There was a silence that felt like hours until Matthias confessed "I do love you, after everything you are the reason I wake up every morning" Nina's eye's watered "I love you too Matthias, I will never stop apologizing but just know I will always love you"

They embraced each other and he kissed her and after a moment that could have lasted forever, they broke apart. Inej was happy for her friend the rest didn't care much about it.

** She knew she shouldn’t speak, but she couldn’t help herself. “And what did you do, Matthias? What did you do to me in your dreams?” The ship listed gently. The lanterns swayed. His eyes were blue fire. “Everything,” he said, as he turned to go. “Everything.” **

"That's how the chapter finishes"

"That wasn't creepy at all" laughed Jesper

Matthias blushed but he wasn't really paying attention he was still wordless from that kiss. 

"Let's continue" 


	16. Part 2: Servant and Lever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 15" Matthias

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONG TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Short chapter but the next one is very juicy.
> 
> Thank you for all the love and support. Love you guys <3

"Chapter 15: Matthias" 

"Let's see what loverboy here does now," said Nina mockingly. 

** When he emerged on deck, Matthias had to head straight for the railing {...}. “Why aren’t there names on anything?” Brekker asked, gesturing at the plans.  **

** “I don’t know Fjerdan, and we need the details right,” Wylan said. “Helvar should do it.” He drew back when he saw Matthias’ expression. “I’m just doing my job. Stop glaring at me.”  **

** “No,” Matthias growled. **

They were some quiet laughs because of these interactions. 

** “You’re holding back,” Brekker said, his dark eyes trained on Matthias. Matthias ignored the shiver that passed through him. Sometimes it was like the demon could read minds. “I’m telling you what I know.” {...} “All right,” Matthias said, his anger rising. “You want my expertise? Your plan won’t work.”  **

** “You don’t even know my plan.”  **

** “In through the prison, out through the embassy?”  **

** “As a start.”  **

** “It can’t be done. The prison sector is completely isolated from the rest of the Ice Court. It isn’t connected to the embassy. There’s no way to reach it from there.”  **

** “It has a roof, doesn’t it?” **

"You are not thinking about doing it!!" screamed Nina angrily "She just got a knife wound and you want her to climb to the roof" 

"I can do it, Nina, don't worry"

"Stop defending him, I know you can do it but you just been hurt badly," Nina said 

Kaz knew she shouldn't press her and Nina was right in defending Inej. But she was a force that cannot be reckoned and she could do anything.

** “Sweet Djel, you want us to climb six storeys up an incinerator shaft?”  **

** “When does the incinerator run?”  **

** “If I remember right, early morning, but even without the heat, we—” “He doesn’t mean for us to climb it,” said Nina, emerging from belowdecks.  **

** Kaz sat up straighter. “Who’s watching Inej?”  **

** “Rotty,” she said. “I’ll go back in a minute. I just needed some air. And don’t feign concern for Inej when you’re planning to send her climbing up six storeys of chimney with only a rope and a prayer.” “The Wraith can manage it.”  **

** “The Wraith is a sixteen-year-old girl currently lying unconscious on a table. She may not even survive the night.”  **

** “She will,” said Kaz, and something savage flashed in his eyes. Matthias suspected that Brekker would drag the girl back from hell himself if he had to. **

"See I agree with myself," said Nina

"Of course you would," said Kaz "But I still think Inej could do it"

"You're so infuriating sometimes," said Nina, and Inej mouthed "sometimes?"

** “The harbour will be crawling with security,” Kaz said.  **

** “Not to mention all the usual customs agents and lawmen.”  **

** “The south? Through Ravka?”  **

** “That border is locked down tight,” Nina said.  **

** “It’s a big border,” said Matthias.  **

** “But there’s no way to know where it’s most vulnerable,” she replied. “Unless you have some magical knowledge about which watchtowers and outposts are active. Besides, if we enter from Ravka, we have to contend with Ravkans and Fjerdans.”  **

** What she said made sense, but it unnerved him. In Fjerda women didn’t talk this way, didn’t speak of military or strategic matters. But Nina had always been like that.  **

** “We enter from the north as planned,” Kaz said. **

** Jesper knocked his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. “Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I’m going to get Wylan’s ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost.”  **

** Brekker’s lips quirked. “I’ll just hire Matthias’ ghost to kick your ghost’s ass.”  **

** “My ghost won’t associate with your ghost,” Matthias said primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain. **

"That's how it ends"

They were still laughing at the last interaction between the guys in the group.

"Men," said Nina rolling her eyes, and Inej agreed and smiled. "You know I'm more military-trained than most of you, right?" 

"Yeah, I know darling it's just I have been not raised to think like that," said Matthias, she scoffed.

"Can we continue?" 


	17. Part 3: Heartsick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 16: Inej

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Thank you for the love and support. Love you guys <3

"Chapter 16: Inej" the relief in Kaz's voice was noticeable. 

"Thank the saints!" said Nina 

Inej just smiled

** Everything hurt. And why was the room moving? {...} “Nina,” she croaked. Her throat felt like it was coated in wool.  **

** Nina jolted awake. “I’m up!” she blurted, then peered blearily at Inej. “You’re awake.” She sat up straighter. “Oh, Saints, you’re awake!”  **

** And then Nina burst out crying.  **

** Inej tried to sit up, but could barely lift her head.  **

** “No, no,” Nina said. “Don’t try to move, just rest.”  **

** “Are you okay?”  **

** Nina started to laugh through her tears. “I’m fine. You’re the one who got stabbed. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s just so much easier to kill people than take care of them.” Inej blinked, and then they both started laughing. “Owwww,” groaned Inej. “Don’t make me laugh. That feels awful.”  **

They all laughed at Nina's comment and it was easier knowing that with Inej's recovery.

** Inej sipped carefully, letting Nina hold her head up. “How long was I out?”  **

** “Three days, almost four. Jesper is driving us all crazy. I don’t think I’ve seen him sit still for more than two minutes together.” She stood up abruptly. “I need to tell Kaz you’re awake! We thought—” **

Then Kaz stopped reading and looked at Inej and said, "No matter how you think of me, I still want to know if you're okay." Inej looked confused but nodded and waited for Kaz to continue reading.

** “Wait,” Inej said, grabbing for Nina’s hand. “Just … can we not tell him right away?”  **

** Nina sat back down, her face puzzled. “Sure, but—”  **

** “Just for tonight.” She paused. “Is it night?”  **

** “Yes. Just past midnight, actually.”  **

** “Do we know who came after us at the harbour?”  **

** “Pekka Rollins. He hired the Black Tips and the Razorgulls to keep us from getting out of Fifth Harbour.”  **

** “How did he know where we were leaving from?”  **

** “We’re not sure yet.”  **

** “I saw Oomen—”  **

** “Oomen’s dead. Kaz killed him.”  **

** “He did?” **

Does that really surprise you? asked Jesper

"Yeah, well a little" murmured Inej

** “Kaz killed a lot of people. Rotty saw him go after the Black Tips who had you up on the crates. I believe his exact words were, ‘There was enough blood to paint a barn red.’”  **

** Inej closed her eyes. “So much death.” They were surrounded by it in the Barrel. But this was the closest it had ever come to her.  **

** “He was afraid for you.”  **

** “Kaz isn’t afraid of anything.”  **

** “You should have seen his face when he brought you to me.” **

** “I’m a very valuable investment.”  **

** Nina’s jaw dropped. “Tell me he didn’t say that.”  **

** “Of course he did. Well, not the valuable part.”  **

** “Idiot.” **

"I'm right here you know? and I already asked for an apology"

"Doesn't matter, still an idiot" 

Inej was laughing and so was Jesper, She didn't hold a grudge because he already had apologized.

** “How’s Matthias?”  **

** “Also an idiot. Do you think you can eat?”  **

"I'm not an idiot," Matthias said grumpily but it came out more like whining.

"Of course not," said Nina looking at him but then she turned her head and winked at the rest of the people. They all snorted and continued reading.

** “I could read to you if I had anything to read. There’s a Heartrender at the Little Palace who can recite epic poetry for hours. Then you’d wish you had died.”  **

** Inej laughed then winced. “Just stay.”  **

Nina laughed loudly at the memories of the poet. Inej just smiled she loved being around Nina, she could always lift her and support her.

** “Since you want to talk. Tell me why you don’t have the cup and crow on your arm.”  **

** “Starting with the easy questions?”  **

** Nina crossed her legs and planted her chin in her hands. “Waiting.” Inej was quiet for a while. “You saw my scars.” Nina nodded. “When Kaz got Per Haskell to pay off my indenture with the Menagerie, the first thing I did was have the peacock feather tattoo removed.” **

** " ** Uhh, backstory" cooed Nina 

Inej rolled her eyes but the rest were interested in why she didn't have the Dreg's tattoo.

** “Kaz told me I didn’t have to do anything but make myself useful.” Kaz had taught her to crack a safe, pick a pocket, wield a knife. He’d gifted her with her first blade, the one she called Sankt Petyr – not as pretty as wild geraniums, but more practical, she supposed.  **

**_ Maybe I’ll use it on you _ , she’d said.  **

** He’d sighed.  _ If only you were that bloodthirsty.  _ **

** She hadn’t been able to tell if he was kidding. **

** “Kaz said if I proved myself I could join the Dregs when I was ready. And I did. But I didn’t take the tattoo.”  **

** Nina’s brows rose. “I didn’t think it was optional.”  **

** “Technically it isn’t. I know some people don’t understand, but Kaz told me … he said it was my choice, that he wouldn’t be the one to mark me again.” **

He looked like he was about to continue reading but he just stopped out of the blue, his face was a mixture of feeling glad and terrified all at the same time. He wasn't sure how to react to this new information, he always wanted to be somebody to someone but the thought of it could kill him, he knew he would never be what she needed. It seems the silence was so loud because they all stared at him, "What?" he asked

"You stopped reading," said Nina 

"Ah yes," he said still out of it

"What happens?" said Inej looking concerned.

He hesitated but continued.

** But he had, in his own way – despite her best intentions. Feeling anything for Kaz Brekker was the worst kind of foolishness. She knew that. But he’d been the one to rescue her, to see her potential. He’d bet on her, and that meant something – even if he’d done it for his own selfish reasons. He’d even dubbed her the Wraith.  **

The silence was piercing, Inej went crimson and wanted to be swallowed by the ground, she didn't want to see Kaz's face but she understood why he had been dead silent she just made a fool of herself.

"I can't believe you admitted it!!" said Nina cheerfully while Jesper had the same reactions, "I knew it! I knew it!" 

Meantime, Wylan and Matthias didn't know enough to care. Wylan did feel pity for her, having one of her secrets revealed like that terrified him.

After moments of Jesper and Nina fangirling, Inej said in a fit of bravery "Cut it out you two!"

Kaz was still wondering what just happened If there's one good thing about him it was covering his feelings. 

** “Don’t like boats. Bad memories.”  **

** “Me too.”  **

** “Sing something, then.”  **

** Nina laughed. “Remember what I said about wishing you were dead? You do not want me to sing.”  **

** “Please?”  **

** “I only know Ravkan folk tunes and Kerch drinking songs.”  **

** “Drinking song. Something rowdy, please.”  **

** Nina snorted. “Only for you, Wraith.” She cleared her throat and began. “Mighty young captain, bold on the sea. Soldier and sailor and free of disease—” **

** Inej started to giggle and clutched her side. “You’re right. You couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.”  **

** “I told you that.”  **

** “Go on.” **

** {...} **

** “Teach me the chorus,” Inej said.  **

** “You should rest.”  **

** “Chorus.”  **

** So Nina taught her the words, and they sang together, fumbling through the verses, hopelessly out of key, until the lanterns burned low. **

"That's how the chapter ends"

Matthias, Inej, and Jesper were laughing at the imagination of Nina singing and the fact that Kaz had to read it.

Nina chuckled and faked being hurt, Wylan smiled.

After the laughter had died, Kaz continued.


	18. Part 3: Heartsick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 17: Jesper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Curiosity, what book or fic are you reading now? I'm reading All Of The Young Dudes by MsKingBean89 and Its phenomenal 
> 
> Thank you for the support and love always, love you guys and I'll write soon.

"Chapter 17: Jesper"

"Me again!" cheered Jesper

** Jesper felt about ready to hurl himself overboard just for a change in routine {...} Kaz had been impressed with the sketches. **

** “You think like a lockpick,” he’d told Wylan.  **

** “I do not.”  **

** “I mean you can see space along three axes.”  **

** “I’m not a criminal,” Wylan protested.  **

** Kaz had cast him an almost pitying look. “No, you’re a flautist who fell in with bad company.”  **

** Jesper sat down next to Wylan. “Just learn to take a compliment. Kaz doesn’t hand them out often.”  **

** “It’s not a compliment. I’m nothing like him. I don’t belong here.”  **

** “No arguments from me.”  **

No one disagreed with him because the statement was correct, Wylan was out of his depth with this crew and if they knew really him, let's just say he wasn't too happy.

** But one morning, Jesper arrived to find Inej sitting up, clothed in breeches, quilted vest, and hooded tunic.  **

** Nina was bent over, struggling to get the Suli girl’s feet into her strange rubber-soled slippers. **

** “Inej!” Jesper crowed. “You’re not dead!”  **

** She smiled faintly. “No more than anyone.”  **

** “If you’re spouting depressing Suli wisdom, then you must be feeling better.”  **

They all laughed at Jesper snark remark

** Once they were on deck, Inej squeezed his arm to get him to halt. She tilted her head back, breathing deeply. It was a stone grey day, the sea a bleak slate broken up by whitecaps, the sky pleated with thick ripples of cloud. A hard wind filled the sails, carrying the little boat over the waves.  **

** “It feels good to be this kind of cold,” she murmured.  **

** “This kind?”  **

** “Wind in your hair, sea spray on your skin. The cold of the living.” **

** {...} **

** “Have they been like that the whole time?” Inej asked, looking between Nina and the Fjerdan.  **

** Jesper nodded. “It’s like watching two bobcats circle each other.” Inej made a little humming noise. “But what do they mean to do when they pounce?”  **

** “Claw each other to death?”  **

** Inej rolled her eyes. “No wonder you do so badly at the tables.” **

The crew laughed at Inej's comment but Nina laughed louder and said, "You seriously have no idea about relationships, do you?" 

Jesper laughed "Nope, not a clue"

** “I’d threaten to toss you into the drink, but Kaz is watching.”  **

** Inej nodded. She didn’t look up to where Kaz stood beside Specht at the wheel. But Jesper did and gave him a cheery wave. Kaz’s expression didn’t change.  **

** “Would it kill him to smile every once in a while?” Jesper asked. “Very possibly.”  **

They all laughed 

"Please! do not smile," mocked Jesper

"It would be disturbing," Nina agreed

Inej chuckled and Kaz didn't bat an eye on them.

** “Did he come to see me at all?”  **

** Jesper knew she meant Kaz. “Every day.”  **

** Inej turned her dark eyes on him, then shook her head. “You can’t read people, and you can’t bluff.”  **

** Jesper sighed. He hated disappointing anyone. “No,” he admitted. She nodded and looked back at the ocean.  **

Kaz was disappointed because he wanted to tell her everything and he wanted to say that he would be with her even though she was about to die, but he couldn't.

Inej knew there was more to it, so she would wait until she knew better.

** “Tell me something. What was the big falling out between Wylan and his father?” {...} There were rumours Wylan had been caught in a sweaty romp with one of his tutors.”  **

** “Really?” said Jesper incredulously. **

After Kaz stopped reading they all turned their heads to Wylan who was bright red, he mustered saying "Not true" 

** “I don’t think he did. Van Eck writes to Wylan every week, and Wylan doesn’t even open the letters.”  **

** “What do they say?”  **

** Inej leaned back carefully on the railing. “You’re assuming I read them.”  **

** “You didn’t?”  **

** “Of course I did.”  **

** Then she frowned, remembering. “They just said the same thing again and again: If you’re reading this, then you know how much I wish to have you home. Or I pray that you read these words and think of all you’ve left behind.” **

"That motherf-" Wylan was saying but cutoff because of all the looks that they were giving him. "I should be offended that you went through my stuff, but knowing you lot, doesn't surprise me"

"What happened?" asked Jesper

"If the book doesn't mention it, I'll tell you"

** “So what are we doing here?”  **

** Jesper turned back to the sea, feeling his cheeks heat. “Hoping for honey, I guess. And praying not to get stung.”  **

** Inej bumped her shoulder against his. “Then at least we’re both the same kind of stupid.”  **

** “I don’t know what your excuse is, Wraith. I’m the one who can never walk away from a bad hand.”  **

** She looped her arm in his. “That makes you a rotten gambler, Jesper. But an excellent friend.”  **

** “You’re too good for him, you know.”  **

** “I know. So are you.” **

Kaz didn't know he was speaking when he said "Jesper is right" but he said it so quietly that only Inej noticed and looked straight into his eyes clueless as ever.

No one dared to say anything because it was the truth.

** “And then I need you to distract Nina, so I can go search for my knives.”  **

** “No problem. I’ll just bring up Helvar.” **

Inej laughed and so did Jesper, Nina scoffed and said "You know I can still hurt you?" but she was smiling. This made him laugh louder.

"That's how the chapter ends," said Kaz grimly he didn't like that they were talking about him, they were right of course but they never would understand his motive.

"Shall we continue?"


	19. Part 3: Heartsick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 18: Kaz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO 
> 
> Thank you for the love and support always <3  
> From Kaz's backstory, I'm going to use the other part after the swindle, not this one.

"Chapter 18: Kaz"  _ Oh great!  _ he thought _. _

Inej was intrigued, to say the least.

** It took two days after she emerged from the surgeon’s cabin for Kaz to make himself approach Inej. **

"Wus," murmured Nina

"Heard that Zenik," he answered

** Kaz limped over to her. “I want to show you something.”  **

** “I’m well, thank you for asking,” she said, looking up at him. “How are you?”  **

** He felt his lips twist. “Splendid.”  **

Nina facepalmed feeling the tension, Jesper just shook his head. Inej had the nerve to smile and Kaz didn't say anything. After a shortstop, he said "Do I really need to say this?" to which Inej said "If I made a fool of myself so do you" that shut him up.

** “You know I can do it, Kaz, and you know I’m not going to refuse. So why ask?”  **

** Because I’ve been looking for an excuse to talk to you for two days.  **

Inej smiled at him and he just stared at her beautiful face. And Jesper and Nina were whispering and giggling to which Kaz just rolled his eyes.

** “No, he isn’t. When you go after the other gangs, it’s business. But with Pekka Rollins it’s personal.”  **

** Later, he wasn’t sure why he said it. He’d never told anyone, never spoken the words aloud. But now Kaz kept his eyes on the sails above them and said, “Pekka Rollins killed my brother.” **

They all stayed quiet, they knew because they read about him but he actually said it out loud to someone, even Kaz didn't believe it. He froze again and hit himself with the book. 

"What now?" asked Nina

** Even the idea of being this near someone should have set his skin crawling. Instead, he thought, What happens if I move closer?  **

** “I don’t want your prayers,” he said.  **

** “What do you want, then?”  **

** The old answers came easily to mind. Money. Vengeance. Jordie’s voice in my head silenced forever. But a different reply roared to life inside him, loud, insistent, and unwelcome. You, Inej. You. **

"You guys do unrequited love on another level," Jesper said poking fun of them

"Yeah, oddest couple ever" agreed with giggles, Nina.

Of course the mocking and the comments didn't bother Kaz he just tuned them out, he was only interested in what Inej thought. She, of course, was dumbfounded and smiling but she didn't want to get her hopes up because she still wanted to know his story. He looked at her but couldn't figure what was she thinking, he was unreadable as always.

** The next week was like a happy dream. Jordie and Filip worked for Mister Hertzoon as runners, carrying messages to and from the dock and occasionally placing orders for him at the Exchange or other trading offices. {...} He lay in bed and tried to pray, but all he could think about was the magician’s coin: there and then gone. **

"That's how the chapter ends," said Kaz feeling the anger rise again 

None of them knew how to react after that, the marked box for trust issues was checked but he was only a kid. They guessed they would know later how Jordie died but they knew not to ask because there was no point to it.

"Next chapter"

****


	20. Part 3: Heartsick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 19: Matthias

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN IN ANY WAY SIX OF CROWS IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Thank you for the love and support always <3

"Chapter 19: Matthias"

"I do not like this," said Matthias

** They spent the night on the ship. At dawn the next morning, Nina had found him assembling the cold weather gear Jesper and Inej had distributed. {...} “He also wants me to tailor you.”  **

** “What? Why?”  **

** The thought of Nina altering his appearance with her witchcraft was intolerable.  **

** “We’re in Fjerda now. He wants you looking a little less … like yourself, just in case.” **

** " ** You know how big Fjerda is?" said Matthias indignantly, he didn't mind Nina using her powers just that he liked the way he looked.

** “I’m not that good a Tailor. It’s part of all Corporalki training now, but I just don’t have an affinity for it.”  **

** Matthias snorted.  **

** “What?” she asked.  **

** “I’ve never heard you admit you’re not good at something.”  **

** “Well, it happens so rarely.” **

They all snorted at Nina's comment.

** “What is it?”  **

** “Black antimony.”  **

** She stepped close to him, tilting his chin back with the tip of her finger. “Unclench your jaw, Matthias. You’re going to grind your teeth down to nothing.”  **

** He crossed his arms. **

** She started shaking some of the antimony over his scalp and gave a rueful sigh. “Why does the brave drüskelle Matthias Helvar eat no meat?” she asked in a theatrical voice as she worked. “’ Tis a sad story indeed, my child. His teeth were winnowed away by a vexatious Grisha, and now he can eat only pudding.” **

Now they were all laughing even Kaz chuckled. Matthias was smiling he loved her and all of her jokes.

** “You don’t smell like roses any more,” he said, then wanted to kick himself. He shouldn’t be noticing her scent.  **

** “I probably smell like boat.”  **

** No, she smelled sweet, perfect like … “Toffee?”  **

** Her eyes slid away guiltily. “Kaz said to pack what we needed for the journey. A girl has to eat.” She reached into her pocket and drew out a bag of toffees.  **

** “Want one?”  **

** Yes. “No.”  **

They were still laughing at the interactions "Saints! Matthias," said Nina laughing "You can have some fun" 

Matthias rolled his eyes but he was happy never the less.

** “What do you intend to do about Bo Yul-Bayur?” {...} “See you in Djerholm harbour,” Specht called. “No mourners.”  **

** “No funerals,” the others replied. Strange people.  **

They chuckled at that "It's like saying good luck" explained Nina smiling.

** “Saints,” said Inej. “We’re actually doing this.”  **

** “I’ve spent every minute of every miserable day wishing to be off that ship,” said Jesper. “So why do I suddenly miss it?”  **

** Wylan stamped his boots. “Maybe because it already feels like our feet are going to freeze off.”  **

** “When we get our money, you can burn kruge to keep you warm,” said Kaz. “Let’s go.” **

"I'm not looking forward to that," said Jesper

"Me neither," said Wylan

** “It’s one prisoner, Helvar,” said Kaz.  **

** “And a bridge,” Wylan put in helpfully.  **

** “And anything we have to blow up in between,” added Jesper. “Everyone shut up,” Matthias growled.  **

** Jesper shrugged. “Fjerdans.”  **

** “I don’t like any of this,” said Nina.  **

** Kaz raised a brow. “Well, at least you and Helvar found something to agree on.” **

"Very funny Brekker," said Nina unenthusiastic

Inej and Jesper chuckled softly.

** “When I’m rich,” Jesper said behind him. “I’m going somewhere I never have to see snow again. What about you, Wylan?”  **

** “I don’t know exactly.”  **

** “I think you should buy a golden piano—”  **

** “Flute.”  **

** “And play concerts on a pleasure barge. You can park it in the canal right outside your father’s house.”  **

** “Nina can sing,” Inej put in.  **

** “We’ll duet,” Nina amended. “Your father will have to move.” **

Now they were all laughing and Jesper was nearly rolling on the floor from laughing. 

** It had started with a storm, and in a way, that storm had never ended. Nina had blown into his life with the wind and rain and set his world spinning. He’d been off balance ever since. **

"Aww" cooed Nina "I can't decide if it's romantic or not"

"With you, everything is romantic," said Matthias lovingly 

Nina's smile grew wider and kissed Matthias's cheek.

** “Move,” she told him in Fjerdan, panting. “Saints, what do they feed you? You weigh about as much as a haycart.”  **

** She was struggling badly, swimming for both of them. She’d saved his life. Why?  **

** He shifted in her arms, kicking his legs to help drive them forward. To his surprise, he heard her give a low sob.  **

** “Thank the Saints,” she said. “Swim, you giant oaf.”  **

** “Where are we?” he asked.  **

** “I don’t know,” she replied, and he could hear the terror in her voice. He kicked away from her.  **

** “Don’t!” she cried. “Don’t let go!”  **

** {...} **

** “Why did you save me?” he asked finally.  **

** “Stop wasting energy. Don’t talk.”  **

** “Why did you do it?”  **

** “Because you’re a human being,” she said angrily. **

** {...} **

** “Look,” the witch whispered when dawn came, rosy and blithe. There, in the distance, he could just make out a jutting promontory of ice and the blessed black slash of a dark gravel shore. Land.  **

Matthias held Nina closer, memories tend to open old wounds. The rest of the crew was starting to comprehend their story.

** But shelter meant they might at least survive the night. {...} “What are you doing?” he barked.  **

** She had glanced over her shoulder – her very bare shoulder – and said, “Is there something I’m supposed to be doing?”  **

** “Put your clothes back on!” She rolled her eyes.  **

** “I’m not going to freeze to death to preserve your sense of modesty.”  **

The room erupted with laughter, 

"No wonder he's so stiff all the time," Jesper spiked 

"Saints Nina, poor Matthias he hasn't even seen a girl before," said Inej smiling.

Nina laughed "Situations force my hand, you know?"

They all laughed and Matthias's cheeks were pink

** “And once I fall asleep, all we’ll have is that fire to keep us warm. I can see you shaking from here. Are all Fjerdans this prudish?”  **

** No. Maybe. He didn’t really know.  **

** The drüskelle were a holy order. They were meant to live chastely until they took wives – good Fjerdan wives who didn’t run around yelling at people and taking their clothes off.  **

** “Are all Grisha so immodest?” he asked defensively.  **

** “Boys and girls train side by side together in the First and Second Armies. There isn’t a lot of room for maidenly blushing.”  **

** “It’s not natural for women to fight.”  **

** “It’s not natural for someone to be as stupid as he is tall, and yet there you stand. Did you really swim all those miles just to die in this hut?”  **

They continued laughing, even Kaz was amused by Nina and her quick responses. 

"You guys are my new favorite couple," laughed Jesper 

Nina winked " We know"

** He turned round, holding out his arms. “Stop! You don’t want to—” But it was too late. Nina clapped her hands over her mouth. Inej made some kind of warding sign in the air. Jesper shook his head, and Wylan gagged. Kaz stood like a stone, his expression inscrutable. **

"Do you ever react?" said Nina 

"Yes, but I don't show it" he responded mocking her 

** "I hope they send your friends and your family to the pyre.”  **

** “They already did, Zenik. My mother, my father, my baby sister. Inferni soldiers, your precious, persecuted Grisha, burned our village to the ground. I have nothing left to lose.” **

** Nina’s laugh was bitter. “Maybe your stay in Hellgate was too short, Matthias. There’s always more to lose.” **

"That's how it ends"

"I'm so sorry," said Nina and Matthias at the same time "I don't mean it" and then they hugged.

After a moment Kaz said 

"Shall we continue?"


	21. Part 3: Heartsick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 20: Nina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I DO NOT OWN SIX OF CROWS IN ANY WAY IT BELONGS TO LEIGH BARDUGO
> 
> Thanks for all the love and support as always <3

"Chapter 20: Nina"

"Oh wow, didn't see that coming," said Nina "Sorry in advance," said to Matthias.

** Being around Matthias made it easy to forget what he really was, what he really thought of her. {...} She’d thought about kissing him. She’d wanted to kiss him, and she was pretty sure he’d been thinking the same thing. Or maybe he was thinking about strangling me again. **

Matthias and Nina blushed while the rest chuckled.

** After the first night, they’d slept in all the dry clothes and blankets they could find but on opposite sides of the fire. If they didn’t have wood or kindling, they curled against one another, barely touching, but by morning, they’d be pressed together, breathing in tandem, cocooned in muzzy sleep, a single crescent moon.  **

** Every morning he complained that she was impossible to wake.  **

** “It’s like trying to raise a corpse.”  **

** “The dead request five more minutes,” she would say, and bury her head in the furs. **

They all laughed, "Not a morning person, are you?" asked Inej "Nope," answered Nina.

** “I tried to learn as much about Fjerda as I could.”  **

** “Why?”  **

** She’d wavered, then said, “So I wouldn’t fear you.”  **

** “You don’t seem afraid.”  **

** “Are you afraid of me?” she’d asked.  **

** “No,” he’d said, and he’d sounded almost surprised. **

** {...} **

** “What’s the first thing you’re going to do?”  **

** “Eat.”  **

** “Eat what?”  **

** “Everything. Stuffed cabbage, potato dumplings, blackcurrant cakes, blini with lemon zest. I can’t wait to see Zoya’s face when I come walking into the Little Palace.”  **

They were all laughing, this was typically Nina. Nina was pondering on the little palace and dwelling in Ravka, she misses home but she missed Matthias more.

** “What do drüskelle eat?” she asked, picking up her pace.  **

** “Other than Grisha babies?”  **

** “We don’t eat babies!”  **

** “Dolphin blubber? Reindeer hooves?” She saw his mouth twist and wondered if he was nauseous or if maybe, possibly, he was trying not to laugh.  **

** “We eat a lot of fish. Herring. Salt cod. And yes, reindeer, but not the hooves.”  **

** “How about cake?”  **

** “What about it?”  **

** “I’m very keen on cake. I’m wondering if we can find some common ground.” He shrugged **

** {...} **

** “I do like cake, but we’re not permitted sweets.”  **

** “Anyone? Or just drüskelle?”  **

** “Drüskelle. It’s considered an indulgence. Like alcohol or—”  **

** “Girls?”  **

** His cheeks reddened, and he trudged forward. It was just so easy to make him uncomfortable.  **

** “If you’re not allowed sugar or alcohol, you’d probably really love pomdrakon.”  **

** He hadn’t taken the bait at first, just walked on, but finally the quiet proved too much for him. “What’s pomdrakon?”  **

** “Dragonbowl,” Nina said eagerly. “First you soak raisins in brandy, and then you turn off the lights and set them on fire.”  **

** “Why?”  **

** “To make it hard to grab them.” **

They were all looking at Nina and Matthias, It was fun and interesting they developing a relationship while they were learning how not to fear each other and survive.

** “Why don’t Fjerdans let girls fight?” she asked him one night as they’d lain curled beneath a lean-to, the cold palpable through the skins they’d laid on the ground.  **

** “They don’t want to fight.”  **

** “How do you know? Have you ever asked one?”  **

** “Fjerdan women are to be venerated, protected.”  **

** “That’s probably a wise policy.”  **

** He’d known her well enough by then to be surprised. “It is?”  **

** “Think how embarrassing it would be for you when you got trounced by a Fjerdan girl.”  **

** He snorted. **

"You know we can kick your ass, right?" said Nina and pointing to Inej and her. "I do know my love," responded Matthias somewhat intimidated.

"Saints Nina! I don't want to read this" said Kaz

** “How can you call yourself a soldier? You’d sleep until noon if I let you.”  **

** “What does that have to do with anything?”  **

** “Discipline. Routine. Does it mean nothing to you? Djel, I can’t wait to have a bed to myself again.”  **

** “Right,” said Nina. “I can feel just how much you hate sleeping next to me. I feel it every morning.”  **

Matthias went scarlet and Nina too. Jesper was on the floor laughing, and Inej and Kaz were laughing and Wylan was mortifed red. 

** “I do like you.”  **

** “What was that?”  **

** “I do like you,” he said angrily.  **

** She’d beamed, feeling a well of pleasure erupt through her. “Now, really, is that so bad?”  **

** “Yes!” he roared.  **

** “Why?” **

** “Because you’re horrible. You’re loud and lewd and … treacherous. Brum warned us that Grisha could be charming.” **

** “Oh, I see. I’m the wicked Grisha seductress. I have beguiled you with my Grisha wiles!” She poked him in the chest.  **

** “Stop that.”  **

** “No. I’m beguiling you.” **

They all laughed at this interaction.

** “I was afraid … I was afraid you were going to let me go,” she managed.  **

** There was a long pause and then he said, “I thought about it. Just for a second.”  **

** Nina huffed out a little laugh. “It’s okay,” she said at last. “I would have thought about it, too.”  **

** He got to his feet and offered her his hand. “I’m Matthias.”  **

** “Nina,” she said, taking it. “Nice to make your acquaintance.”  **

"Yeah, I forgot you didn't know each other's names," said Jesper

Matthias and Nina were smiling.

** “Tell them, Nina,” he demanded. “They should know how you treat your friends.”  **

** Nina swallowed, then forced herself to meet their gazes. “I told the Kerch that he was a slaver and that he’d taken me prisoner. I threw myself on their mercy and begged them to help me. I had a seal I’d taken from a slaving ship we’d raided near the Wandering Isle. I used it as proof.”  **

** She couldn’t bear to look at them. Kaz knew, of course. She’d had to tell him the charges she’d made and tried to recant when she was begging for his assistance. But Kaz had never probed, never asked why, never chastised her. In a way, telling Kaz had been a comfort. There could be no judgement from a boy known as Dirtyhands. **

"Yeah, like I have room to judge," said Kaz "Any of us, well except Wylan"

Wylan blushed and the rest nodded in agreement

** “What the hell is this?” cried Jesper.  **

** “Some of kind of earthquake!” shouted Inej.  **

** “No,” said Nina, pointing to a dark spot that seemed to be floating in the sky, unaffected by the howling wind. “We’re under attack.”  **

** {...} **

** Nothing happened.  **

** “Are you kidding me?” said Jesper.  **

** Boom. The slab exploded. Ice and bits of rock rained down over their heads.  **

** Wylan was covered in dust and wearing a slightly dazed, deliriously happy expression.  **

** Nina started to laugh. “Try to look like you knew it would work.”  **

They all were laughing and Wylan's cheek were still red.

** “I need a little more,” the Grisha mumbled. “Just a little more.” He grabbed at Nina’s hand, and only then did she recognise him. “Nestor?”  **

"What?" said Nina putting a hand to her mouth "He went to school with me in the little palace.

Matthias hugged her as she felt overwhelmed with shock and sadness.

** “It was still a close thing,” replied Inej.  **

** Jesper shouldered his rifle. “Wylan earned his keep.”  **

** Wylan gave a little jump at the sound of his name. “I did?”  **

** “Well, you made a down payment.”  **

** “Let’s move,” said Kaz.  **

** “We need to bury them,” Nina said. **

** “Do you want to build them a pyre?”  **

** “Go to hell, Brekker.” **

** “Do your job, Zenik,” he shot back. “I didn’t bring you to Fjerda to perform funeral rites.”  **

** She lifted her hands. “How about I crack your skull open like a robin’s egg?”  **

** “You don’t want a look at what’s inside my head, Nina dear.”  **

They snorted at Kaz's response and Nina said "Well, we've been inside your head and not all of it is disturbing" looking at Inej who blushed.

** “Nestor shouldn’t have been able to do that,” she said, her thoughts still churning. “No Grisha can use power that way. It’s all wrong.”  **

** He was quiet for a moment, and then he said, “Do you understand a little better now? What it’s like to face a power so alien? To face an enemy with such unnatural strength?” **

"When you put it like that it makes sense, but it still doesn't justify it," said Nina defensively. 

** “There were Grisha in Elling.”  **

** He halted midswing. “What?”  **

** {...} **

** “I made the charge. I begged them to save me. I knew they’d have to take you into custody, and bring us safely to Kerch. I didn’t know – Matthias, I didn’t know they’d throw you in Hellgate.” **

"I know that now, and I forgive you," said Matthias, and Nina smiled and flung herself to him.

** “You can’t tell me you intend to let Bo Yul-Bayur live.” {...} Kaz was right about one thing at least. She and Matthias had finally found something to agree on. **

"That's how the chapter ends," 

"It is adorable that you think you can betray me," laughed humorlessly Kaz.

Neither one of them looked at him they were way into their heads.

"Let's continue"


End file.
